Ash x Digimon Season 5
by marc1986
Summary: This is my take on the fifth season, and the reason that this is a regular theme is that Ash is naturally from the Digimon reality. This Ash has no knowledge of Pokemon or anyone from that universe.
1. Chapter 1

Ash and Delia are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

Digimon - characters and locations is from Toei Animation

Chapter 1

There are monsters among us

It was a peaceful day in town, but no one knew of the two creatures scurrying through the sewer system. In truth the two of them didn't even know where they were going - they just wanted to get away from that place. "Commander, the area has been completely sealed off. All sectors have been alerted. The sector security has been sealed off the sky area." One female assistant stated as alarms blared and lights flashed in the building she worked at.

"The targets are renegades. We must catch them before they get out. Don't you agree, Sampson." A voice said near the man in charge.

"Hmm? Where are they now?" The leader of the group stated to the assistants.

"Trying to escape through area B-7." One of them answered while scanning her computer screen carefully. He thought it over and knew exactly who to use.

"Send Yoshino. Only a high level DATS can capture a Digimon." The man instructed and explained. On the streets several police-like vehicles were driving around town with a message to deliver.

"Attention all citizens. A gas leak has been discovered in the vicinity. Authorities are attempting to remove it. Please return to your homes, or seek shelter immediately." The message said, and a fisherman heard this, but knew the truth.

'Should I get involved in case they need help.' The fisherman thought as he watched the vehicles pass him by. At one of the cornered off spots people were gathered to try to see what was going on, and in that crowd was a trained professional.

"Sorry, no one is aloud in." An officer stated as he watched as a woman in a pink uniform approached the tape. Knowing the drill she pulled out her ID.

"I'm a special agent from DATS. How's the evacuation?" She informed and questioned. The police knew of the organization, and could tell the ID was legit, so one of them decided to reply.

"There's seems to be some sort of hold up just to the south of this area." The officer said while looking in the direction he was talking about. At that moment the DATS member's assistant spoke up.

"Yoshi?" The voice said causing the young woman to pull out a rectangle shaped device from her belt.

"Yes." She answered to the screen.

"We're picking up signs of life 500 meters away." The assistant explained to her.

"Is it the targets?" The agent asked since she wanted this mission to end nice and quickly.

"No. Humans." The creature answered back which caused the woman in the field to by-pass the tape, and go into the park area. "Sixteen humans to be exact." The creature as the other one was running toward the location.

"I'm on my way." She responded and picked up the pace a bit. A few moments later she came upon sixteen humans - all groaning in pain.

"Oh-no." The creature said after catching sight of the field, and was alarmed that two of her kind would do such a thing.

"This is Yoshino, we have sixteen humans down in need of medical attention." The officer said through her ear piece. The young one then walked passed them to see if there was anyone else, but instead found what she was looking for. "It's the targets. Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1, and they are engaging even more humans." She informed them while seeing a yellow lizard and fox staring down a brown haired with in street clothes and a raven haired boy in street clothes.

"I don't know who you are, but your standing in the middle of my turf." The one in the orange jacket said to the lizard before him who growled as a response.

"I can tell that you are a reasonable creature, but I have a feeling that you do not simply wish to walk away." The one with the hat questioned politely since he often tried to avoid a meaningless fight. The mammal's reply was a simple shake of the head.

"This is my training ground. One day I'm going to be a champion ultimate fighter. Fans all over will chant my name. They'll say - Marcus Damon is the best." The one in orange commented to his foe.

"Are those two picking a fight with Digimon?" Yoshino questioned since she did not see this ending well.

"Why are you here, then?" The fuzzy one asked the hat wearer, and even though he spoke as though he didn't like fighting; judging by his stance the human before her he had the potential to be a true warrior.

"I mostly come here to think and for the peace and quiet. Personally, I wasn't expecting to run into a talking fox." The raven haired stranger stated back.

"Dry up. Boy your really full of yourself! Your like all the other humans - all talk and no action; like your friend there." The lizard shouted back at his opponent.

"Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 can talk?" Yoshi questioned since she did not know that he could do that at all.

"Yoshi, they'll destroy the humans." The creature in the device explained to her stunned teammate.

"Keep it up, and I'll knock you out just like I did these guys." The human brawler shouted out to the lizard who wasn't all that intimidated by the threat.

"What you do: just talk them all to sleep?" Raptor-1 questioned back since he was getting sick of the human before him. The other two simply stood there - staring at one another: making sure the other didn't try anything.

"Yoshino." A voice spoke through her com link. "What are you waiting for? Get those civilians away from Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1." Sampson said into her earpiece.

"We can not let this escalate." The voice beside Sampson spoke again.

"I know." He answered back in a mellow tone. Back on the battlefield the young officer decided to follow the order to the best of her abilities.

"Hey, you two, stop right there. You can't fight those creatures. They're too dangerous." She shouted out to the two of them. Her plees were heard, but not headed.

"Huh?! Look toots, I'm the dangerous fighter here, and I don't need any babysitter to hold my hand." The brawler answered back to her with an angered tone.

"He's right. This is between him and me." The lizard stated to her as he kept his eyes on his opponent. The female seemed a little surprised that the humans decided to stay there and fight.

"Do not worry, ma`am. My friend and I are tougher than we look. We will be all right." The one with the hat explained politely to her.

"If that's the way you want it then go ahead." Yoshino said to the four.

"Yoshi, don't take that from them." Her partner explained back causing the huam to try again.

"This is your last warning." She called out to them, but by then it was too late the four decided to fight.

"I don't know what you are, but your going down." Marcus said to the lizard shouted out and charged which the scaly one did as well. To the one with the hat: it was the fox that charged first, and it both fights resulted in a fist to face conflict.

"No way." One of the females at the base explained aloud after seeing the show.

"Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 hit them, but they're still standing!" The other female shouted out in alarm as well. This even got the other two's attention.

"What did we just witness?" The voice questioned to the leader. Back on the battlefield two things happened the lizard and his opponent were flung to their butts while the fox and its opponent simply took a few paces back, and were shocked at the power behind the other's fist.

"Hey, I wasn't ready. I was waiting for you to say 1,2,3, go. Like this - 1,2,3, go." The lizard informed before charging, but his charge was cut short by a knee to the chin.

'He gives new meaning to this level of our kind.' The fox thought before seeing that her opponent was ready for another go.

"What's your excuse this time?" Marcus questioned his foe after feeling good for his counter. Raptor-1 countered with a kick of his own to get some distance from his attacker.

"No more talk." The reptile answered back after getting some distance from his opponent.

"Fine, let's do some real fighting." Marcus replied back before getting into a scrap with the lizard. The hat wearing human nodded to his oppoent, and they started to fight as well. DATS saw this and were alarmed at what they were seeing.

"They are actually matching the Digimon blow for blow. Who are those boys?" The voice stated as he watched the fight - completely interested as to how this will turn out. The battles continued for several hours: clear into the dusk hours. Eventually the four decided to take a breathing break since all of them were exhausted.

"Your pretty good…for a human." Both Digimon explained at the same time as they were catching their breaths.

"You've got some good fighting technques yourself there." Marcus stated back with a nod coming from the other human. The way they were lying was: Marcus, Raptor-1, human, and Vulpin-1. The two knew that these two flesh bags were worthy humans, so they did not mind calling off the rest of the fight.

"Let's call it a draw?" Raptor-1 offered with an outstretched claw; Vulpin-1 did the same with her paw. The humans smiled and decided to accept their offer by holding the creature's hand.

"I'm Agumon." The reptile said to the one in the orange jacket.

"Marcus. Marcus Damon." The human answered back.

"My name is Renamon." The canine said to the human beside her.

"I am Ash Ketchum." He answered back to her. After that the Digimon sat back up, and decided to explain something to them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, boss." Agumon said to the man that was even with him. That word confused the brawler greatly, so he had to call the strange creature on it.

"Boss?" Damon questioned as he got into a sitting up position which Ash did as well.

"Yeah. You see - you're the only guy who's ever matched me blow for blow in fight before, so that makes you the boss. From now on you give the orders, and I'll faithfully follow them." Agumon explained to his partner. Ash turned to the canine with a confused look on his face.

"My explanation will be the same except for the boss part." She reasoned with him. The human beside her only smiled since he understood that much about her. As for Marcus - he still didn't know what to make of the 'boss' roll.

"I'm your boss, huh? I never thought one day that I'd an employee that is as funny looking as you are." Marcus answered back and was enjoying this moment with this creature, but the mood was quickly shifted.

"Freeze, right there!" A voice called out causing all of them to face the girl that they had completely forgotten about. The young lady pulled out a small rectangular device, and stated, "Lalamon, Realize!" In an instant a strange pink/green seed creature appeared causing the Digimon to rise to their feet and the humans to freak.

"What is that thing?" Marcus questioned since, to him, it was even stranger than the two beside him.

"So, are you going to come quietly or do I have to use force?" She offered to the group before her.

"Who is she talking to you two or me?" Damon asked since he often got such a statement from the police from time to time.

"Don't let them take us back, boss, please?" Agumon said back as he worried about himself and his first friend's safety.

"If they get us. Then they will no doubt destroy us." Renamon stated causing the two humans to do something about this.

"Hey, what are you kids doing?" The officer questioned as each of the humans was picking up one Digimon. The both of them looked at her and decided to answer her truthfully.

"I've never had an employee before, and I'm not handing my first one over to you." Marcus explained his reason for doing what he is doing.

"Tell her, boss." The reptile praised his partner.

"Besides, there is no honor in facing a winded warrior. Come find us when they have recovered their strength." Ash stated to the one in pink. With nothing else to say they decided to run from the two new comers.

"Hey! Wait up!" She called out to the four of them, but her partner decided to try a stronger method.

"Seed Blast!" She called out before sending out a barrage of seeds to stop the humans in their tracks.

"Let us handle this, boss." Agumon commented before looking at the canine who nodded in acceptance. "Pepper Breath." He called out before summoning flames to his mouth.

"Diamond Storm." The other called out while channeling some form of energy into her right hand.

"They're attacking!" The officer called out as she saw them getting ready. The fire ball and diamond shards flew at her, but the third creature intercepted.

"Seed Blast!" Lalamon called out, but quickly added, "Yoshi." When the location was surrounded by a thick layer of smoke which the two used as a means to flee the scene.

"They're gone." Yoshi stated to the empty field before her. Later that night the four snuck into the Tokyo tower and went to the top - just to make sure that they were out of sight.

"I got to hand it to you boss. That was a great escape." Agumon said as he gazed out the window at the city before him. His compliment was noted, but it raised a big question that neither human knew the answer to.

"Thanks, Agumon, but there's one thing that worries me. Who are we running away from!" He answered and shouted to his employee which caused the other to speak.

"What are you creatures anyway? Where did you come from?" Ash asked the two of them as he shifted his stare between the fox and the reptile.

"Gee, I'm not sure. I guess we come…from the institution." The dino answered him as he looked at the two humans that seemed so nice. The two seemed even more lost since neither of them knew of such a location. "Please don't let them take us back there boss, please?" Agumon pleaded to his partner with worry in his voice.

'I wonder why she is being so quiet?' Ash thought as he looked at Renamon who wasn't really saying anything.

'That strange feeling that I felt when he was giving me a piggy-back is meaningless. Focus on the task at hand.' Renamon thought to herself as she was trying to focus on the fact that they are wanted Digimon.

"I know that I am not your boss, but you have nothing to fear. We will keep you two safe." Ash said to the both of them which caused the other human to speak out as well.

"What am I getting myself into this time?" He said while raising from the metal bench he was sitting on. The Digimon liked what they were hearing from the two humans that they befriended. "I don't know what trouble your in, but I'll help you out too." He added to his first statement.

"Oh, thank you, boss. I will never ask for another thing again…except food. I'm starved!" Agumon said as he trotted over to his partner, but stopped when his stomach gurgled.

"Well, suck it up, and act like a real man." Damon retorted as he was trying to be a stern boss.

"But, boss, I'm a growing boy!" The digital one shouted out at a level that wasn't very good.

"Keep it down. Someone's going to hear you." The human fighter said back with an outstretched hand.

"But I haven't eaten in so long." Agumon responded before the dizzyiness from hunger was now affecting his balance causing him to bite the closest thing to him.

"Hey, back off!" Marcus shouted out while punching the top of the dino's head with his free fist. The caused the hungry one to release his snack, and concentrate on the bump on his noggin.

"Ouch! Oooch! Eeech!" Agumon shouted as he tried to rub the bump.

"Hey! What's the idea of trying to eat me!" Marcus shouted back in anger to his partner.

"Sorry, but boss, I have to admit that you look pretty yummy sometimes." The Digimon replied back in an honest tone. The canine had to admit that her partner was the same, but such thought were quickly shook away since she had no time for them.

"Okay. We'll try to find you some food, but from now on I'm off the menu. Wait here. Come on, Ash." Marcus informed as he and Ash made their way to the elevator.

"Thanks, boss. Thanks a lot." The reptile shouted with great joy in his voice since he was about to be fed. A thought clicked in the hat wearer's head, and decided to speak about it.

"Listen, I think it's best if you and Agumon stay put, and for no one to see you two." He said to the fluffy one.

"I understand." She said back to him with a monotone voice.

"Right, I'll stay here, too." Agumon said to his emplyoer who accepted that, and continued on his way to the elevator. The two walked to the closest store, and looked around. While Damon had no idea what to get for Agumon Ketchum had a gut feeling that Renamon would like the thing he picked out…at least he hoped so.

'I hope Renamon likes this stuff.' Ash thought after paying and was waiting outside for his friend while looking in the bag at the box lunch and energy drink. His friend basically took one or two of everything, and hoped for the best.

'Hmm, I wonder if Agumon eats any of this stuff.' Marcus thought as the cashier operator was ringing everything up. As he did that a familiar voice spoke out:

"And, uh, add this too, please." A female voice stated after putting her one item with his stuff. The fighter saw the drop and glanced at the person warily, but she was unfazed by his stare. "Is that okay, Marcus Damon?" She asked, and after that the three, Ash accompanied them since he knew it involved the creatures they rescued, sat at a water fountain.

"Yum. I love eating Choclate pudding it makes me feel like being a little kid again." Yoshi explained after taking a small bit of the item she made him purchase.

"You owe me a buck." Marcus informed her while still glaring at her.

"Hmm, tell ya what - I'll pay you back if you tell me where Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 is." She answered back while glancing at the two responsible for the disappearance of the two creatures.

"I'm afraid we don't know what your talking about. Neither of us have heard of a Raptor-1 or a Vulpin-1." Ash said calmly to her since he was trying to handle this situation peacefully.

"And even if we did there's no way we'd tell you." Marcus added with a confient smile since he thought she'd give up, but she didn't.

"I see. Sorry to hear that because now you two have to come with me for witness interogation, Mr. Damon…Mr. Ketchum." She retorted back to them, and it was then the two became interested since neither male introduced themselves to her.

"Hey, how do you know our names, anyway?" The one in orange questioned with his interest peaked.

"I know everything about you two. Ash Ketchum - Born May 1 in Tokyo, blood type A, Otori Middle School eighth grade. Your father disappeared ten years ago, so you moved in with Marcus' family, and has been labeled as a Silverbolt based guy." Yoshi stated about Ash.

'She's good.' The boy in question thought to himself after hearing all of that.

"Marcus Damon - Born April 2nd in Tokyo, blood type B, Otori Middle School eighth grade. Your father disappeared ten years ago as well, and now you live with your mother - Sara, and little sister - Kristy who looks up to you even though you generally act like a jerk. Do I paint an accurate picutre of you two?" She informed of the other male, and questioned to see if her facts were right.

"Who are you?" Damon questioned with curiosity in his tone, and even though there was a part of him not liking how much info this woman had on them he was still interested to know more about her.

"I'm Special Agent - Yoshino Fujieda. I'm with the Digimon Data Squad." She informed them while showing off her badge. The two looked at the item, but now they were even more confused.

"What do you do?" They said as one since admittedly the job did sound sort of cool, but they needed more info.

"Our job is to control creatures known as Digimon who comes from this place known as the Digital World, and we protect the general public from them." She informed the two men beside her.

"That sounds like a very exciting job, but what does that have to do with us?" Ash asked since the two, in his opinion, weren't evil in any way, shape, or form, so what was the problem.

"Those Digimon you two are hiding: I need to get them. Do you know what kind of panic it would cause if the public knew about Digimon? Now, where are they?" Yoshi questioned to them, and both heard an edge in her voice for the last part, so they knew she meant business.

"Maybe he went back to the Digital World?" Marcus stated before the pure hearted one could speak.

"Or maybe your hiding them from me?" The one in pink countered back to them since she knew that no Digimon could do what he just said. "Anyway, Digimon don't eat this stuff. They only eat food made esspessily for Digimon." She informed while going into a standing pose, and pointing to the two bags the males have.

"Special Digimon food? Where's that?" Damon questioned since he was a little mad that he blew all that money for nothing.

"You can't buy it in the store. You can only get it at our headquarters. If you don't return Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 to us: they will starve to death." She informed which neither of them liked the sound of that one little bit.

"Okay. You win. I guess you should show us where you work so we can do a little grocery shopping." Marcus informed her while pulling a sandwich from his bag - ready to eat since he too was hungry.

"Thank you." She said back, and guided the two back to her car. On the drive over there Ash was hoping that if spoke their side then perhaps they would stop hunting Agumon and Renamon, but a part of him doubted that.

"Look at this place." Ash stated after following Yoshi into a room in a skyscraper that held a lot of high tech stuff.

"Fujieda reporting back." She said while saluting to a rather tall man behind a desk.

"So, your Marcus Damon and Ash Ketchum?" The tall man questioned to the two young ones to his left. They glanced at the one speaking to them, so he added, "My name is Commander Sampson. The DATS team welcomes you." The acronym threw them for a loop.

"DATS?" Marcus questioned since the girl said that they were the Digimon Data Squad, so they were a bit lost. The two looked around and saw that there were chess pieces, two more girls, and a turtle in the room, but nothing else.

"Interesting that these are the boys that fought Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 since there's nothing about them indicating that they are able to fight at that level." A strange white creature around Sampson's neck spoke which caused the two to look at him.

"Hey, what's with the talking scarf?" Damon questioned which caused the creature in question to get a little annoyed, but a gentle finger rubbing on his head quelled his temper.

"This is Kutamon. He's my Digimon Partner." The big guy informed the two of them which got the boy's interest again.

"Each human member of DATS is teamed up with their own Digimon. This is mine - Lalamon." Yoshi informed while holding the pink and green creature from before in her arms.

"What? Partners?" Marcus questioned before seeing a black chess piece helping a woman with long purple hair, a white chess piece helping a woman with short blonde hair, and then there was a turtle handing out tea.

"That's right. Here at DATS tamed Digimon and their human partners work together to handle Digimon crimes." Yoshi informed as a turtle gave Macus and Ash their own cup of tea.

"Enjoy." The shelled one said while walking away.

"Thank you." Ash said as he took his cup in his hand, and took a sip. 'I wonder if I become one of them - will they let Renamon be my partner.' Ash thought since this job seemed right up his alley.

"I'm not thirsty." Marcus said to the turtle as he walked off.

"Suit yourself." The helmeted one replied back.

"I've had enough of this nonsense. We have guys waiting for me, so let's get on with it. Just say what you got to say, and stop wasting my time." Marcus informed the man in charge since he wanted to make sure his scaly chum was alright.

"Calm down. Don't get angry. Rather Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 is saved or not depends on you two." Sampson informed, and once he saw that he had their attention he explained what he meant. "WE are currently in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. The wall between the Human World and the Digital World is starting to collapse. The reason is unknown, but the fact is that Digimon are appearing more frequently in the Human World then ever before." After that another one carried on where he left off.

"Our primary objective is to maintain harmony between the Human World and the Digital World therefore renagades like Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 must be kept under control." The small Digimon informed them both.

"Why are you calling them renagades?" Marcus asked as he decided to have his cup of tea after all.

"Because: Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 has already entered the Human World and has made contact with human beings. So, they are no longer allowed to go free." Kudamon explained to them.

"Please cooperate. The future relationship between humans and Digimon depends on you returning Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 to us." Sampson stated, and was hoping that they would comply with his request now that they explained the situation.

"Normally I would follow an officers order to the letter, but not this time." Ash informed as he set his empty cup back on the console.

"Why not?" The taller male questioned him. Marcus decided to let him do the explanation.

"Why not?! Because we don't owe you people a single thing." Damon stated for his friend and got an annoyed groan as a response from Sampson. "I don't know about all this 'the future depends on us' stuff, but we know that Agumon and Renamon depends on me, and no one mentioned what he needs." The fighter added to his first comment.

"He's right. I mean, have you ever thought about why he came to our world in the first place? What if he didn't have a choice? Maybe things were bad for them in the Digital World." Ash added, and after a moment he added, "Either way - we need to hear more before turning them over to you." Marcus liked that, and decided to an honorable statement of his own.

"And if they get into any sort of trouble we'll accept full responsibility for their actions, but only if you give us food for them." Marcus stated to the big guy with an outstretched hand. As if on cue the alarms went off just like before.

"Commander, Digimon detected in area D-59. A hamburger stand is being attacked by an unknown creature." The woman with long hair informed them and brought up an image of a burning building.

"That could be Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1." Yoshi informed while speaking of the only Digimon that they knew of.

'Agumon possible, but I don't think Renamon that much.' Ash thought since the fox probably could go a good while without food, so that just left Agumon.

"Hold it! Didn't you say Digimon eat special food. What would Agumon and Renamon attack a humburger stand for?" Marcus stated and questioned to the lady responsible for dragging them away from their friends.

"You didn't give them anything to eat. Did you?" She stated and questioned back to the two behind her.

"Nothing. Which means if it is them then they are only attacking out of hunger not anger." Ash informed them, but the others didn't see it that way.

"Do you now see how hiding them have created a security breach for all of us?" Kutamon questioned to the two which could understand his concern, but something doesn't sit right with them.

"Thank you for the tea, but I better follow him." Ash said to the commander before following after his brother.

"Marcus. Ash, Wait," The one in pink stated as she watched the two flee the building.

"Yoshino, go after them." Commander stated to her.

"Yes, sir." She answered back before chasing after them.

"Seal off the area, and assess damage control. Emergency level 5." Sampson informed the two desk girls.

"Sir, yes, sir." They said to him, and went to work. The two were able to make it to the tower with zero difficulty, and went straight to looking for them.

"They're gone. They told us they would stay hidden. Renamon? Agumon? Where are you?" Ash asked as he and Marcus looked around the Observation Deck, but found nothing.

"So, this is where you were hiding Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1? A lot good it did because we definetly confirmed that it was them that attacked the hamburger stand." Yoshi said as she stood behind the two of them.

"Quiet!" Marcus shouted at her in anger. Ash recalled the request he gave to them.

"It's my fault. I should have remained here to make sure nothing happened to them while Marcus got the food." Ash admitted to Yoshi. An explosion was heard and seen right below them.

"Yoshi, the Digimon is in are 205. You better get there fast." Her digital partner said through her ear piece.

"Got it. Ash, Marcus look, this is dangerous, so you wait here." She informed, but saw that they were already heading for the elevator.

'Sorry Yoshi, but if those really are our friends then we should be the ones to face them.' Ash thought as the two of them beat her to the elevator.

"Oh no. This is the worst." Yoshi thought and worried for their safety.

"What are you doing? Agumon/Renamon! Agumon/Renamon!" The two shouted out after getting out of the tower and were standing before the blaze. In an instant something appeared behind them.

"You called, Ash?" Renamon requested after appearing behind them which gave Ketchum a bit of a start.

"There she is, but where's…" Marcus stated before they all heard a familiar voice.

"Boss, help!" The voice shouted causing the three to turn and face a yellow lizard with a trashcan for a head.

"Agumon?" Marcu questioned as he looked at the creature.

"Boss, where are you? Keep talking so I can find you." The creature said back, and by then the others knew that it was him. The fighter rushed over and pulled the trash bin off of his employee's face.

"Why did you attack the hamburger stand?" Marcus questioned as he believed that trashcan came from the eatery.

"Huh? I didn't attack anything, but a hamburger sure sounds good." The reptile replied back since his stomach was still running on empty. The other two could tell that he was telling the truth which only confused them even more.

"Then what's that?" Ash asked as he looked at the smoke behind them. In the tower the female officer had to use the stairs to get to the ground floor, but could see through the window that something was wrong.

"Hurry, Yoshi, the Digimon signal is to the southeast." Lalamon informed as her partner came to a stop to look into the smoke.

"That's not Raptor-1 or Vulpin-1." She said since the figure in the smoke wasn't a fox or a dinosaur. Through the smoke came a rather large white chicken cawing out of anger.

"The data signature…it's Kokatorimon." The one with the long hair informed the others.

"A Champion Level bird Digimon." The scarf informed the others.

"So, that's what attacked the hamburger stand. He must be stopped." Commander stated and couldn't believed that even he believed the Rookie did it. On the battlefield the bird kicked a car into the tower which cut off Yoshi's way down or at the very least stalled it.

"Ash, what is that creature?" Renamon questioned while looking up at the beast before them. Ketchum knew that the two of them deserved an honest answer.

"I'm honestly not sure, but I do know that because of him you and Agumon were accused of something you didn't do by DATS." Ketchum stated which caused the two in question to simply think, 'what'.

"Let's go, guys." Marcus said to the three of them, and with that the four charged toward their opponent. The bird saw them coming, and decided to walk away, but the humans grabbed the foot, and started climbing.

"Pepper Breath/Diamond Storm." The two on the ground shouted as they shot projectiles from their mouths and arms. Often Kokatorimon shot a Medusa-like attack, but they were able to dodge, and continue with their attacks.

"Why is Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 attacking Kokatorimon?" Sampson questioned as he watched the footage of the fight, but couldn't understand what he was seeing.

"They haven't been tamed. I don't understand why they are fighting alongside human beings." The small Digimon stated since he was as confused as his human partner. Back at the fight both humans decided to climb up to get in a better position to attack.

"No!" The two shout out in alarm when one of the birds feet landed on their partners.

"Guys, we're fine, but could you lend a hand." Agumon questioned as he and Renamon were trying to keep from getting crushed.

"How about we lend a couple of fists?" Marcus questioned as they stood on the beast's neck - ready to pummel, but the two stalled that by throwing the foot off of them.

"Get off of him! That thing will tear you to pieces!" Yoshi shouted to the two standing to either side of the bird's neck. They could hear her plea, but knew that this fight was more important than their safety.

"What about what we'll do to him." Ash offered and it was then they landed a few blows causing their opponent to take notice of them.

"Besides, the Ultimate Fighter is always willing to make the Ultimate sacrifice." Marcus commented as he started to pound on the poultry.

"Not to mention it is always good to stop rampaging creatures like this one before innocents are harmed." Ash said as he continued to drive it home. The fox could only chuckle of how the raven haired one sounds so corny some times.

"You've got him now, boss." The reptile on the street commented as he watched the two humans bravely punch the beast. The two Rookies became worried when the Champion's tail feathers lit up the way they did, and for good reason as the stone maker sot a strong beam from the beak; swaying his head from left to right.

"Watch out!" Yoshi called out as the beam was in affect which was pointless as both the fox and the reptile were hit.

"Agumon/Renamon." The two humans said as they leapt off of the bird, and rushed over to their respected partners. The two of them tried to wake them up by gently shaking them with no reaction.

"Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 are silent." The purple haired woman comment to the others which none of them cheered or smiled about the news in the least. Back on the battlefield neither Ash or Marcus liked loosing their new friend this early in their relationship.

"Agumon/Renamon." The two said as they leaned over their partners in the rain. They knew that it was avenging time because neither of them felt any air coming out of their Digital Monster friend's noses.

"It's…IT'S FIGHTIN TIME!" Damon shouted as he turned to face the chicken before them. The two teens used a zig-zag formation to avoid getting hit by the beam, and then tried sandwich punching his face.

'That was weird.' Ketchum thought as he felt some sort of energy surge into him after his left fist made contact with the feathered fiend's face; not knowing that Marcus felt the same only with his right.

"My fist." Marcus stated after landed and taking a few steps away from their opponent. Damon saw that his fist was engulfed in orange energy while Ash's fist was engulfed with yellow energy.

"Hey." A new voice spoke, and the two of them saw a fisherman standing in the smoke. "Heads up." He offered before tossing a device to Marcus, and added, "And one for you too." After saying that he threw a device to Ash as well.

"What on earth is this contraption?" The hat wearing youth questioned as he looked at the strange yellow device in his hand; Marcus was just as confused as his old friend.

"A Digivice. Use it in combination with your DNA which is trigger by your fist. By mastering this technique your Digimon can Digivolve." The man explained to the two boys before him.

"Who are you? What are you talking about?" Marcus demanded as he often obeyed his mom's 'don't take anything from strangers' rule as best as he could.

"Use your hearts and your fists to awaken Agumon and Renamon." The man informed the two while disregarding both of Marcus' questions. The two looked at the strange device in their hands, and neither of them had faith that the small device will do as the old man said it would do, but it was their best bet.

"DNA Charge!" The two of them said as they put their glowing hands on their new toy which got the people at the base's attention.

"Both Agumon and Renamon's charge has hit their limit. They've reached their ultimate charge." The blonde worker explained to her boss while checking out the power readings.

"But how? Could it be…" Sampson stated as if having an inkling, but decided not to jinx it. Back on the battlefield the two decided to put that extra energy to good use.

"Agumon digivolve to…" The reptile called out as he felt his power surge, and after the transformation was complete he added, "GeoGreymon." The light faded revealing a rather large lizard before them.

"Renamon digivolve to…" The vulpine called out as the energy entered her body causing her to transform as well. "NeoKyubimon!" The canine called out even though she was a lot larger than a conventional Kyubimon.

"They've been transformed." The two boys, who were now only ankle biters compared to them, said as they gazed in awe at what has happened to them. Kokatorimon fired his beam again, but this time neither opponent felt it.

"Mega Flame!" The orange Champion shouted out and shot a powerful flame attack.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" The yellow furred giant shot nine small fire balls that flowed into the Mega Flame which made it stronger. When the combo attack struck the enemy the bird transformed into an…egg.

"That'll teach ya: don't mess with my employee." Marcus said with a chuckle.

"Or my friend." Ash added with his own chuckle. The two of them looked up at their partners, but saw nothing there. The sound of a grumbling caused them to adjust their sight a bit lower and saw that Renamon and Agumon were back to their old selves.

"Oh boss, I'm hungry." The lizard said to the one with the open jacket which didn't surprise the scraper in the least.

"What else is new? I'm just glad your safe." Damon stated as he looked at his reptilian employee.

"The same to you too, Renamon." Ash said to the taller Rookie.

"Thanks." Agumon replied back while the fox only nodded at the raven haired hero. Back at the base they were making sure that the enemy Champion has been dealt with.

"Kokatorimon is gone. It turned back into a Digi-Egg." The blonde haired woman informed.

"They did it!" The purple haired one praised at the two teens that brought that beast down.

"Get me Yoshino back here, right now." Sampson informed them as he took his seat, and began to think of just went down a few moments ago.

"What are you thinking Sampson? Is it about those boys?" Kudamon questioned to his old friend even though he already knew the answer.

"Anyone who can tame a Digimon, unlock the DNA, and make him digivolve that fast is someone that I want on my team." Sampson informed even though he knew his partner knew that that is what he was going to say. It was around dawn when the flames died out on their own, and the woman in pink picked up the egg.

"Please boss, I can't hold out much longer. I need something to eat." The yellow scaled Rookie commented to his partner since his stomach was really working on fumes.

"Okay. Okay. How about a nice hamburger?" Marcus offered to his scaley chum.

"Ooh, with cheese too?" Agumon questioned back, but Marcus became distracted as he recalled the man that tossed him his Digivice.

"I bought you a box lunch, Renamon. If you are interested." Ash stated to his canine friend while rubbing the back of his neck out of shyness.

"You did not need to…but thank you." Renamon answered back to Ash.

"Just a friendly offer." Ash said back with a smile.

"Earth to boss." Agumon said to his employer once he became quiet all of a sudden.

"Yeah, sure, the works." Damon answered back causing a happy yell to come out of the dino's mouth. The four decided to hang out somewhere else, but as soon as they took a few paces a voice stopped them.

"Hey, wait up, a minute!" Yoshi said to the four that stopped the creature she was holding which they did as requested. "Before. Another Digimon might have attacked the hamburger joint, but Agumon and Renamon still injured those sixteen men. That proves they are a danger to humans. I still have to take them back to DATS." She explained to the two humans, and it was then the two decided to come clean about that.

"Sorry that was our fault." Marcus said to her causing the young lady to gasp in alarm. "Those were some punks claiming to be Ultimate Fighters who wanted to train in my area, so I fought them for it, and guess what - I won." He said which earned him some praise from his worker.

"It will take a lot more than that to bring you down, right boss?" Agumon questioned even though he already knew the answer.

"That's right." The human said back to the dino.

"Marcus is the worst." Yoshi stated with her fingers on her temple since all of this was giving her a headache.

"As for the others. Some of the punks were taking advantage of the confusion and were guiding a few women off path, so I followed and taught them the error of their way." Ash said as he slammed his right fist into his left palm.

"Be that as it may I might as well arrest all four of you." Yoshi said and with that Marcus and Agumon fled on foot while Renamon picked up Ash and leapt away.


	2. Chapter 2

Ash and Delia are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

Digimon: characters and locations are from Toei Animation

Chapter 2

The inner strength of Marcus and Ash

Despite trying to flee from Yoshino and Lalamon Marcus and Agumon were eventually caught while Ash and Renamon went with them willingly. The plant class Digimon put restraints on Raptor-1, and put the torso, but was too scared to put the collar on the canine. "Do not worry Lalamon. Renamon and I will be fine." Ash said to the frightened one which caused her to put the leash on Agumon instead.

'How are those two even friends.' Yoshi thought as she looked at Ash through the rear-view mirror, and heard the kind statement he said to her Digimon. The ride was annoying due to the comments from Marcus, but eventually they made it inside the DATS building.

"Give it a rest, would you. Let go." Damon shouted as he was being dragged with Lalamon walking the lizard in by a leash; the other two followed calmly behind them. They all gathered around Commander Sampson who stood up, and was ready to speak to them. "I said: Let Go!" Marcus shouted while pulling his arm free for emphasis.

"Commander. As you ordered, I have captured the criminals Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 along with their accomplices - Marcus Damon and Ash Ketchum." Yoshi said to her commanding officer.

"Come on! You know that Agumon and Renamon didn't destroy that hamburger stand. So, stop treating them like they are criminals." Marcus said as he did not like all of this one bit.

"That's not what this is about." The pink jacketed one said back as she pushed the angered teen away from her boss. That comment interested both of the new humans, and wandered what else could there be.

"Well, what is the situation this time?" Ash asked calmly since he wanted to prove that even being convicted there were some that could keep their cool.

"There are other crimes, you know. If a Digimon just comes to this world it's a crime, and interacted with humans is strictly forbidden." The DATS worker explained to them which still didn't add up to the two accomplices.

"Are you kidding me?" The fighter questioned before adding while finger pointing, "You guys all work side by side with Digimon?" He was getting annoyed by this pointless discussion.

"If a police car breaks the speed limit to catch a criminal the police officer isn't a criminal too, is he." The floating seed stated to the two helpers of Digital Monsters.

"You do have a point." Ash/Marcus said as one since they could remember at some point or another asking their mothers why the good guys were never questioned of killing perps, so they assumed what the creature said was true.

"Hey, boss, I thought you were on my side." The reptile questioned to his human since he thought that his partner would put up more of a fight for his freedom. The canine simply slapped the back of Ketchum's head with her tail to show that she was miffed.

"Tell them what will happen to Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1, Commander Sampson." Kudamon stated while gazing at the two reckless ones.

"All Digimon who break the Real World law will be returned to their Digi-Egg form. After that they will be transported back to the Digital World where they belong." Sampson explained to them and then saw something. "Why isn't Vulpin-1 wearing the restraining leash that Raptor-1 is?" He asked the two since they should know that it is regulation to use such a thing.

"I know it's regulation, sir, but please forgive me because she…"Lalamon stated but stopped to hear a snarl from the furry one, so she hid behind Yoshi and added, "She scares the pollin from my Petunias." The canine glared at her one more time before calming down.

'Fool, like I would be caught dead in that pet device.' The logical side of the canine's mind thought.

'Unless it was Ash holding the other end.' A darker side, that felt a connection to the human, thought back, and even gave an image to what it meant. A quick shake of the head caused her to enter the present where she saw a white chess piece walk in with an egg.

"Is that really…" Ash said but stopped to recall their earlier opponent disappearing and an egg appearing in its place. They all watched as the knight junior place the egg in a glass tube, and walked away.

"Coordinates are entered and locked." The blonde one said after a few key strokes.

"Transmission coolers are on." The violet haired one commented back. "Bionic condenser standing by." She stated while checking her monitor.

"Digital harmonizer is allighning. Security code recognized." The one to the right said as she looked at her computer screen.

"Digi-Gate: open." The one to the left said as a swirl of unknown energy came from the top of the tube. "Five seconds to transfer.

"3...2...1" The other said as she counted the numbers on her screen.

"Begin transport." Sampson said to the two before him.

"Initiating." The two said before doing the last bit to this job of theirs. In a blinding flash of light the egg was no more.

"Transport complete." The left computer operator explained even though everyone else could plainly see that much. Since he saw the look of awe on the fours faces, so he decided to enlighten them.

"What you have just seen was the Digimon you have just defeated being sent back to the Digital World." Sampson said to them as the humans saw the unknown turtle walk past them with a steaming kettle of tea.

"Now its time for Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 to go back." The small Digimon said causing both boys to seem shocked at what they had just heard. As one was taking her sentence with dignity the other was hooting and hollering about the opposite.

"I'm afraid we can not have this, Commander Sampson." Ash explained as Marcus tried to pry the white creature off of his employee, but Ash on the other hand kicked the pot out of the turtle's hands when it landed - caused a smokescreen.

"Come on, Agumon. We gotta go." Marcus said to his partner.

"It's about time, boss." The yellow dino said as he ran along side his friend. Ash and Renamon followed after them, but Yoshi did the same and tailed all four of them. When they left the older man spotted two objects on the ground.

"Those are Digivices?" Sampson pointed out before picking up the orange and yellow devices. Neither of them have seen either color being carried by any of their men, so that left two options.

"Ash and Marcus must have dropped them when they fled, but how is it possible that either of them were able to obtain one." The 'scarf' questioned since he knew that his partner didn't do the deed.

"Those kids. Full of surprises." The human partner said since he knew who gave them the devices in his hands, and had a gut instinct that his old friend had a plan. As for the four in question: they were able to ditch their pursuers and hide in an old warehouse building.

"Well, nobody spotted us, but now we're stuck here." Marcus said as he opened one of the various doors and took a quick look around to make sure that there were no humans around.

"Why don't we just walk out the front door, boss?" Agumon questioned while walking up beside him before being pushed back inside.

"Are you trying to get us caught?" He questioned while trying to keep his employee away from the door which the hat wearing youth closed for him. "Quiet. There. Perfect." He instructed and stated when he saw a big cardboard box.

"I wonder if you shout try to fit into that too, Renamon?" Ash asked when he spotted the item in question. The yellow furred one saw what they were looking at and decided to make one thing clear.

"Such things are not needed for my type of Digimon." She started to speak before vanishing. "We're pretty good at blending into the shadows." She added before reappearing behind Ash which got a yelp of alarm from him - which she enjoyed.

"Whatever. Let's just get going." Damon said as he had put the box over his partner, and was walking him along with the other two right behind. Eventually they were able to get into town with no one really looking at them.

"Let's go." Marcus said as they were crossing yet another lax intersection. Ketchum was wandering how this did not look strange to others: a walking cardboard box.

"Good idea, boss. No one will think there's anything suspicious about a walking cardboard box." Agumon said as he was looking through his peep holes as they continued to walk forward.

"Shh." The employer instructed as a biker went past them. Ash took them moment to look for his partner, and when he saw those stunning blue eyes he knew that the canine was still with them. "Just be quiet, okay?" He requested as they took a left.

"I'm trying, but my stomach won't." The lizard said back as he walked along behind him. Eventually the group got to their destination, and unshackled their friends. The four then journeyed into Marcus' room, and watched their Digimon partners eat.

"If this is junk food I'm happy to be a garbage dump." Agumon said as he wolfed down some snacks that he picked up on their way up, but Ash still had his boxed lunch and drink.

"They can only eat food made for Digimon, huh? This guy will eat anything." Marcus said as he watched his worker eat. "And her…" Demon stated as he looked over at his 'brother's' friend.

"Thank you for the food, Ash." The fuzzy one said as she slowly, and calmly ate the boxed lunch. She was about to open up the energy drink, but stopped when she heard someone coming up the stairs.

"Ash, Marcus, are you two home?" A female voice stated which got the human's attention. Both feared what she would do what she would do if she saw Agumon and Renamon, so there was only one option - PANIC.

"I'm sorry Renamon, but your going to have to hide in Marcus' closet." Ash said as he guided the canine in, and let her take her seat. The fighter on the other hand just grabbed his friend and shoved him in with her.

"And this time keep quiet." The warrior instructed before closing the doors. By this time a stunning woman with hair the same shade as Marcus' while wearing a simple purple/white outfit.

"Hi." She said to the two of them. As the raven haired one tried to keep a straight face the brown haired youth beside him was showing all the signs of hiding something.

"Hi, mom, what's going on?" The son of the woman before them asked in his best confident tone, but knew that it still showed his fear.

"Well, you're busted. That's what's going on. Fess up, while you two were out getting into trouble I stayed up all night worried sick. Now, where were you two?" She informed and asked the two of them. If there was one thing either of them hated - it was making their family worry, but they knew she would be even more worried if she heard the truth, so they were pretty stuck on what to do.

"What trouble? I don't even know the meaning of the word." Marcus explained while trying to keep a straight face. Inside the closet was the lizard trying to free himself from the canine's grip as she whispered, 'stay still, be quiet' and other words along that line.

"You really ought to buy us both a dictionary." Ash stated as the two began to laugh at their own cover story. The female human on the other hand simply edged in close, and glared at them which they felt and looked back at her.

"Marcus - your standing on a candy bar. Ash - your standing in an empty boxed lunch." She informed them causing both to look down and raise the foot in question.

"Now, where'd that come from?" Damon questioned as he looked at the bar beneath him.

"Hmm, maybe from that pile of food on the floor." The mother informed them as she looked at the heap of empty calories in the center of the room. The others started to sweat, but the native of the house knew what to say.

"Don't worry, mom. We'll clean it up. Well, we better get started, so see ya." Marcus said as he gently showed his mother the door, and shut it behind her.

"Let go!" Agumon shouted at the slender fighter which she did after not smelling the third human in the room anymore. "Aah! Why do you keep shoving me into small places?" Agumon shouted while looking up at his employer.

"Because if anyone finds you two they'll take you away and send you two back to the Digital World." Marcus explained to the simple minded dinosaur. He finally understood that if he went home than he wouldn't hang out with such an amazing human - his boss.

"Well, I don't want that." The lizard answered back while tilting his head a little to the side.

"And I know you don't want that either, Renamon, so the two of you need to trust us. We need to keep you hidden at all times." Ash explained before adding, "Even though you can handle that part pretty well by yourself." She did like the compliment, but said nothing in return.

"Right." Agumon commented with a nod of the head.

"Listen…" Marcus started to speak before seeing that his doornob was moving.

"Marcus, Ash." The human female said through the other side of the door. This caused the teens to panic and stuff them from behind the curtain. "I heard talking. Is there someone else in here besides you two?" She asked after finally getting the door open.

"No, don't be silly, mom. You're just imagining things." Marcus said while blocking her view of the window since he knew that the Digimon's yellow tails were showing.

"Move to the stone deck." Ash whispered to the two before going over to back up Marcus in coming up with a cover story. However by the time he got there she was already telling the two of the agreement that they made.

"I hope you two aren't forgetting the promise we made. We said until the fathers come back: the four of us will tell each other absolutely everything. No secrets." The mother of Marcus explained which caught both of the Digital Monster's attention.

"There's four?" Agumon questioned as he laid on his belly while Renamon was sitting on the railing, and that was when the two of them saw the fourth human - a little girl, who had just dropped a watering can.

"Roof." Renamon instructed and felt like a novice - allowing a youngling to spot her like that. As the two fled upward the little girl ran into her brother's room, and held onto her mother out of fear.

"What's the matter Kristy?" The mother of them both questioned since she wanted to know what scared her child so much.

"There's a giant lizard out there." The youngling explained even though she did see the dog: it was the reptile that scared her more since she knew a canine would never harm a human.

"A what?" The mother asked back before going out to take a look for herself. The two that knew who it was tried to stop her, but the older woman was already at the sliding door. "But there's nothing out here." She said to her daughter and saw nothing out of place except for the watering can lying on the ground.

"I'm telling you I saw it." Kristy shouted back since she knew that she was not crazy. As Agumon struggled to get to the top Renamon simply jumped and was there, but once the reptile got there he came face to face with a neighborhood cat.

"UMA." The mom said after hearing her daughter's argument that there really was something out there. The acronym didn't make since to the kids in the room, so she explained herself. "Unidentified Mysterious Animal like Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. Where did I put my video camera?" She questioned the last part since she knew that another oddity would rake in the bucks, but her train of thought was halted by some rustling on the roof.

"I bet it's that lizard." Kristy said and made a break for the sliding door.

"If there is something up there it might be too dangerous, so Marcus and I will go." Ash explained to the little sister before grabbing the edge of the roof and pulling himself up which Damon did the same. The two saw that Agumon got into a fight with the cat and Renamon 'tried'to stop it, but the three tumbled off the roof and down to the ground.

'That wasn't so bad.' Agumon thought as he landed on the ground - back first. 'That hurt.' He thought after his boss landed on top of him. Ash was right behind Marcus, but to protect his friend Ketchum instinctively held the fox in his arms.

'I could have landed safely on the ground just like that cat. I did not need Ash to catch me.' The vulpine thought before she and the others slipped into unconsciousness with herself still enjoying the hold.

"Are you okay?" Kristy questioned to the four down below. The mother came out, looked down and saw the lizard along with a dog.

"You didn't mention the dog, honey?" The taller woman asked the young one.

"The lizard scared me more." She explained and the two decided to help out the four, but as they were going down to get them there was already a woman on the scene.

"This is Yoshino. The targets have been aquired. Shall I proceed with erasing their memories?" The pink vested one questioned to her leader on the com link in her ear. Several hours have passed and the two awoke to find themselves in their designated rooms.

"Agumon/Renamon?" The two questioned almost at the exact same time before looking around their rooms, but when neither saw anything yellow they left their rooms. Once inside the hallway the two looked at one another and tried to find their friends, but was having zero luck.

"Smells like your mom has made Supper." Ash informed after taking a whiff in the air. Marcus took that as a sign to check the Kitchen since his employee couldn't control his stomach, and would probably make his own food. When the two got there they saw that Agumon was eating, but with others.

"More please?" Agumon questioned as he sat at the table and gave the mother of the house his bowl.

"Coming up." She said sweetly before dishing up another helping. Seeing this caused the human to collapse on the floor out of panic, but the panic wore off quickly and decided to deal with his employee.

"How can you sit here eating with all that's going on?" Marcus questioned as his anger was coming to a boil. The yellow scaled one took the bowl and answered casually.

"Thanks. Because if I eat standing up I don't feel good." The Digimon's comment may have been truthful, but that wasn't the answer the human was looking for.

"That isn't what I meant you Digital Dimwit." The human fighter shouted as he gave his worker a two fisted noogie. His actions were ruining another guest's time with this meal, so she had to speak up.

"Excuse me. You mind keeping it down. We're trying to enjoy a nice meal here." The DATS worker explained as she was eating some of the Damon family's food. "You know - this is the best corndog I've ever had." She complimented to the mother.

"Can you excuse us for a minute, mom?" Marcus said as he took Yoshi into the hall so they could talk a bit in private. Ash remained behind since he was curious about something.

"So…you don't mind if they stick around." Ketchum questioned as he glanced at his friend and the end of the table, even though she would feel better using a private table, eating her meal calmly.

"Of course not. Agumon and Renamon do seem nice enough, and well behaved." The mother explained back and Kristy nodded happily, so with that settled the hat wearing youth joined them on the other end of the table.

"Just exactly do you think your doing here?" Marcus questioned once the two were alone.

"It's not my idea. I came to bring you guys in, but then…" Yoshi explained and then went into detail about what her commander wanted.

"There has been a change in plans. We have decided not to erase the memories of Ash, Marcus, or the rest of the Damon family." Sampson explained which confused the young worker. "But stay there and observe. Keep an eye on Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1, understand?" He questioned to her, and waited for her reply.

"But commander…" She tried to reason with him, but he hung up before she could plead her case.

"That was that. So, I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other since I now have to keep an eye you four warriors." The modern Yoshi explained in simpler terms what was going on at the moment.

"No way. Your not tagging along with me, toots." Marcus said back in annoyance since he hated to have a babysitter hanging around him.

"I don't like it anymore than you do, but orders are orders." The working girl explained back to the rebel before her.

"Then I order you to get out." He shouted back to her since she was starting to get on his last nerve.

"Sorry, I can't." She shouted back to him since he was getting on her last nerve as well. Throughout all the voice raising the five listened to the whole thing, but to try to silence them Kristy excused herself from the table, and…

"You two sound just like an old married couple." She said while walking past them to watch some TV. The both of them heard her, and decided to set the record straight.

"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE!" They shouted at her, and once they realized the two said it at the same time, they blushed, and looked away from each other.

"Let's get back to eating." Marcus offered while gesturing to the Kitchen which she nodded and the two headed to the table. After Supper was complete it was time for bed which Yoshi had Marcus' bed while he and Agumon slept on sleeping bags.

"Ash?" Renamon questioned after entering the guest room, where Ash was staying. "I would like to train you to be a better fighter." She offered once he was looking right at her.

"You mean now?" He asked and received a stern look as his answer. "Sound good. Let's go." He said and the two went out to the yard to start their training. As they trained, slept, or sleep ate at another location was experiencing some problems of their own.

'So, this is the Human World?' The visitor thought after appearing from a portal, and caused some problems. In the morning both Ash and Marcus were getting ready to go.

"Where are you going, boss?" Agumon questioned as his employer and friend seemed to be wearing something totally different than what they had on yesterday.

"School." He answered back calmly.

"What is school, Ash?" The canine questioned as she walked down the stairs. Her partner was about to answer her truthfully, but was cut off by his 'brother'.

"A place where there are tons of people to fight." The fighter of the two said back which excited his worker greatly.

"Oh! Sounds like my kind of place. Let's go." Agumon said as he hopped down to the Welcome mat.

"Yeah, that would be great." Damon answered back since that really did sound like a good idea. His hope of taking his new friend were dashed by their guest.

"Have you forgotten?" Yoshi questioned causing all to turn to her. "If people see a Digimon walking around it will cause a huge panic." She explained to them, and that was when the boys realized that she was right.

"Oh, that's right." Marcus replied back, and could see where she was coming from thanks to his fight with Kokatorimon. At that moment the lizard started to whine that he really, really, really wanted to go with his boss.

"Fine, just be quiet." She instructed before taking out a couple of devices that Sampson gave to her. "Here, use this." She said while giving Marcus his and tossing one to Ash.

"Our Digivices?" Ash asked as he looked at the item. "We thought we lost these." Ash said as he recalled digging through his pockets and even going so far as to take off his jeans and shaking them for good measure; not knowing that he made his partner…uncomfortable while doing that.

"You dropped them during your escape from DATS." Yoshi explained of where they were, and why they didn't have them post the breakout.

"Oh, well thank you. So, how do I use it anyway?" Marcus commented and questioned since he didn't quite get how this little device worked.

"You just point it toward Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 and press the button on the right." The DATS worker instructed to them while watching as they did as they were told. Once they did both watched as their Digimon friends were sent into their devices.

'That was an interesting feeling.' The vixen thought before looking through the small screen and looked up at a huge Ash Ketchum. The reaction was the complete opposite to the yellow scaled one.

"Boss, let me out of here!" Agumon shouted with his claws pressed against his prison.

"Agumon!" Marcus shouted in alarm when he saw his now tiny friend. The worker decided to fill them in on what just happened.

"Digivices can change Digimon into Data and store them, and safety rule number 1 is - keep your Digimon stored." She informed them of one of the important rules of DATS.

"Ash, Marcus, you're going to be late!" The mother shouted out from the kitchen since she still could hear the boys' voices in the house. With that the two said their goodbyes and headed for school. On their way over to school both teens saw a familiar car driving right beside them.

"If you're gonna follow us you could at least give us a lift in your car?" Marcus questioned to the young woman that had been tailing them since the whole mess started.

"Nope, and I'll keep following until you give us Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1." She replied back. Before there could be another argument with the two Ash decided to try a passive solution.

"There has to be a comprimise for this whole thing, right?" Ketchum questioned to her, and that caused her to think of one other thing she had been thinking by herself.

"Well…" Yoshi started to speak causing both to look at her with curious faces. "You could always join the Digimon Data Squad." She explained to them which caught them off guard. "Look it's simple - if you join DATS then there would be no reason for us to chase after Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1. And the best part is that I wouldn't have to babysit you guys anymore. So, what do you say?" She went into detail, and they all liked hearing that, but Marcus was still against it.

"Forget it. I want to loose you: not join you." Marcus said and ran off when the sign told him to. They kept the pace for a bit until something caught Ash's eye.

"What's going on over there?" He asked as he saw police officers talking to people, and investigating on something.

"What's up? I thought you two were in a hurry?" Yoshi questioned when she saw the two standing in front of a different school then his profile informed.

"This is my sister's school." Damon informed before jogging into the yard with Ash right behind him; Yoshi followed against her better judgement. "Kristy?" Marcus questioned when he got closer to where a large group of people were.

"Huh? Guys, over here." The young one in question said and motioned for both teens to come where she is. "Look at that." She instructed once they made their way through the crowd.

"What happened to the animals?" Ash questioned as he and his 'brother' looked at the scorched cages.

"See that boy over there? When he came in to feed the chickens and rabbits this morning they were all gone. No body knows where they went." Kristy explained to the two, and that was when they overheard the officer running the investigation blab that this has happened to another school.

"I have to talk to you." Yoshi said as she grabbed a hold of Marcus' right wrist before they could learn more about this problem from the authorities.

"Where are we going?" He asked as Ash calmly walked behind him, and stopped at a side from the storage building.

"A Digimon is behind all this." She informed them and after seeing the skeptical look they were giving her she went into detail. "Yeah. My Digivice is picking up a residual trace of its energy signature." She informed while showing off her device to the two.

"This place - school is more impressive than you described, Ash." A voice said followed by another.

"You can say that again." The three saw that it was their Digimon partners - Agumon behind Ash and Renamon was kneeling on the roof due to the narrow passage they were in.

"Hey, how did you two get out of the Digivices." Marcus shouted out to his scaly chum in alarm. The reptile pointed out that he hated enclosed spaces while Ash could tell that Renamon didn't mind them one little bit.

"Ugh! You two are a real piece of work. You know there should be a rule where you can't leave your Digivice without permission." Yoshi said to the two and then quickly added, "Wait it was you two that did this! I bet it was you two that attacked these animal pins." This only confused and offended the good Digimon greatly.

"It wasn't them." Lalamon started to speak, and once she had her friend's attention she explained, "I watched him the whole night while you were sleeping, frankly I don't know how you slept with all his snoring, but still he didn't leave the room, and Renamon and Ash were outside sparring with one another. Another Digimon must have done it." Hearing this excited the two fighters greatly.

"HA! You thinkin what I'm thinkin?" Agumon questioned the boss.

"Yeah!" He shouted back with a joyful smile on his face.

"The Ultimate Team! It's fightin time again!" The two said together which only embarrassed Ash and confused Yoshi. Kristy did her best to cheer her friend up which went over well, but her somewhat good day took a slight nosedive when her brother began to shout to her. "Kristy! Don't. Worry. We'll. Get. Whoever. Did. This." The group decided to go to school, and prepare a trap during the night.

"What is it with you and these cramped spaces, boss?" Agumon questioned as he found himself inside the animal pin while his partner was putting on an over complicated lock on the door.

"There's a saying where the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. When this guy finds out that there's something new in these cages he won't be able resist returning." Marcus informed his employee the genius of his plan.

"Wow, you're the smartest guy ever, boss." The reptile congratulated with a big smile. It was then the two girls decided to give him the bad news.

"You do realize he's using you as bait, don't you?" Yoshi questioned while leaning on the cage, and when he gasped in alarm the vixen added a comment of her own.

"That's why your in there and I'm out here." The canine didn't want to be bait, and had a gut feeling that Marcus knew that she would beat him like a cheap drum if he asked her to join his employee.

"I take it all back!" The scaly one shouted since he hated that idea even if his boss thought of it.

"Don't worry. I'll stop the bad guy before he even gets close to ya. Just trust me." Marcus promised his worker that he had the Digimon's back.

"Yeah, well, I'll believe it when I see it happen." Yoshi said since she really had her doubts about this plan. With nothing better to do the four others hid where they talked earlier.

"I hate being cooped up. Locked up like a criminal. Or a chicken. Or a criminal chicken." Agumon complained as clouds covered the light from the moon, and with this darkness their opponent appeared and walked toward the cage, but the others only knew someone was there when the clouds moved from the moon.

"Isn't that the kid that was supposed to feed the animals?" Yoshi said since she was paying attention to what Kristy said earlier.

"My sister's friend." Marcus added while looking at the youth.

"He's seen Agumon." Lalamon pointed out. Ash decided to defuse the problem as best as he could before things got rough.

"Excuse me, son." Ash said as he walked over to the kid while using a standard issue Captain America word. "Did you come to check on the cages?" Ketchum questioned after getting right beside him. "I commend you of staying focused on your job, but I think you should go home. Your parents are probably worried about you." He stated, and prayed that would be enough to move the youth.

"Hey, didn't you hear him? Get out of here!" Marcus said since he could see that the kid wasn't moving even after all that Ash said which was unusual. The kid then told them to shut up, and then he went on a tirade of his responsibility, and how he hated it.

'This human has served his purpose.' The insect thought after emerging from behind the child: which frightened all but Renamon.

"So, you're the one behind all this." Marcus accused as he held the kid that fell unconscious on the ground after the separation. "Well, now you're going to have to pay." He threatened while glaring at the beast, but was halted.

"Stay back. Leave this to the Digimon Data Squad." Yoshi informed while pulling out her Digivice. "Lalamon, Realize." She called out and just like that the pink/green creature appeared.

'Why am I suddenly thinking back to that strange dream again where I walk around with small balls on my waist, and battle monsters.' Ash thought to himself as he watched the fight between a bug and a plant where the Rookie on the field unleashed Seed Blast.

"Don't insult me." The insect roared before shooting some sort of thread from his mouth which caught the Rookie, and then slammed her to the ground. As Yoshi was tended to her partner the other three decided to engage the enemy.

"Guys, wait. Boss, get me out of here first." Agumon said to the three who decided it best to go as four warriors.

"Come on. What was that stupid combination?" The ultimate fighter questioned while fiddling with the dials. The yellow scaled one asked him to hurry, but he wasn't listening.

"Lalamon, time to Digivolve." Yoshi informed when she could see that her friend was semi-awake. She activated her glowing energy and said, "DNA Charge!" This caused the same thing to happen only to a different Digimon.

"Lalamon digivolve to…" The Rookie said as she transformed and ended with, "Sunflowmon." Once again Ash recalled running against a smaller version of that sunflower beast in his dreams. "Sunshine beam!" She shouted out, and the attack hit it's mark.

"Aw, they had all the fun cause your slow." Agumon commented while looking from the inside of his prison.

"Give me a break." Marcus said before realizing, "Renamon, you can just break the lock with one punch." He pointed out, and she knew that he wanted just that, but the vixen had a different thought.

"You bought the lock, so you should know it's simple combination code." The fuzzy one stated which irked him massively. At that moment the group heard a cracking coming from the battlefield cloud, and it was then they saw a large object before them.

'That's from another dream of mine: Cocoon of Evolution.' Ash thought as he, like the others, watched it crack open.

"Oh no, it's beginning to Digivolve." Yoshi shouted out before a massive bug burst from the cocoon. The beast flew over the two opponents which he used the dust on his wings to numb them both.

"We must fight." Ash stated as he watched the insect go high into the sky. Marcus nodded in agrement since he really wanted to do just that.

"Boss, I have to digivolve first." Agumon pointed out to them even though Ash knew Renamon could take on the flyer in her current form. The two did the same as last time, and put their hand on top of the device, but nothing happened.

"What's the deal?" Marcus questioned causing a concerned question from his reptile pal. "I don't know. Nothings happening. I'm not getting that tingly feeling in my fist." He answered while looking at Ash who shook his head no - nothing happening to him either.

"Enough. Digivolve or no digivolve no one gets sucker punched on my watch." Ash called out when he saw the bug purposefully kick Sunflowmon when she couldn't defend herself. The two charged the battlefield, and stood ready for the next pass.

"Marcus, Ash, get out of here. It's too dangerous. You can't handle this. Leave it to trained professionals like me. Go on - go." Yoshi said even though her body was still numb from those strange spores from the beast's wings.

"No, I'll never run away." Marcus shouted back to her which caused her to become silent for a moment. "An Ultimate Fighter never shows cowardice. No matter how difficult the fight might be I stand my ground. That's what a winner does. Fightin time again!" Marcus said to her as he took off running to the bug.

"Myself - I fight to defend the weak weather or not they appreciate the hand, and that goes with my friends especially." Ash explained to her as he took off right after him. As they gave the beast a left/right punch Renamon smashed the lock and Agumon was able to get out.

"Alright." The two teens said as they felt the tingly feeling once again.

"Ready to fight, Agumon?" Marcus questioned to his now freed friend who nodded with a smile on his face. "All right, then." He commented before getting down to work.

"DNA Charge." The two said and just like before the transformed:

"Agumon digivolve to…GeoGreymon." The scaly one called out after going from Rookie to Champion.

"Renamon digivolve to…NeoKyubimon." The fluffy one called out after going from Rookie to Champion. The insect saw the two and decided to engage the lizard who grabbed hold of it with his claws.

'So, this is what he used on Sunflowmon and Yoshi.' GeoGreymon thought as he was starting to feel numb, so he chucked the bug. Realizing that he was outmatched in power the flyer tried flight but that didn't work out.

"Fox Tail inferno." The four legged one called out.

"Mega Flame!" The lizard called out causing their attacks to combine again, and force the beast back into Digi-Egg form. With the danger past the two de-digivolved back to Rookie.

"All right! You guys got him!" Marcus shouted out to the two, but mostly his. They nodded in acceptance that another brother was stopped before he could do serious damage.

"So, your fist of fury and justice awaken your DNA, eh?" A voice called out as the heroes were enjoying their victory causing them to turn to a familiar face. "Your getting more interesting by the minute, Marcus…Ash." The two decided to get a closer look at this guy.

"Hey, you're the old guy who gave us our Digivices." Damon pointed out as he instantly placed the face.

"If you want to become the ultimate fighter, and the ultimate hero who fights the ultimate battle and solves the ultimate problems then your not going to find it in this world, but in the Digital World. There's an unlimited amount of opponent and problems who will test your fighting skills and hero ethic, and make you the best fighter and hero in two worlds." The elder informed them.

'What is he talking about?' Ash thought after hearing his offer while his 'brother' was sold on the idea.

"Then I'll be the ultimate." Marcus commented which earned him a nod from the elder. After parting from him, helping Yoshi and Sunflowmon back to their feet the six decided to go to the Damon house for some rest. In the morning Yoshi took the egg to the base for proper disposal.

"Finally something has gone right in this dibocal." Kudamon stated while adding, "It took all our resources to cover up the destruction from your battle." Yoshino heard this and got a little nervous.

"Don't forget that we at least captured the rouge Digimon and we erased that boy's memory of the incident. So, alls well that ends well." The pink vested one tried to look on the bright side of all of this.

"Don't get cocky." Sampson instructed and she obeyed the order. It was then the small, white Digimon spotted something amiss.

"Wait. If you're here then who's keeping an eye on Raptor-1 and Vulpin-1 right now?" The partner of the Commander questioned since he did not recall hiring a sub for the task.

"Oh…well…actually…" Yoshi started to answer but the door opened revealing Ash, Renamon, Marcus, and Agumon which three of the four seemed nervous about something.

"What are you doing here? Speak up." Kudamon questioned with his own guard on high incase this turned out to be a sneak attack like with the tea kettle the other day - only more devastating.

"Well, guess what? We're gonna do you a favor, and join DATS." Marcus informed and Agumon added some groveling to get the point across.

"What's this?!" The small Digimon shouted in alarm since he would never have seen this one coming.

"If Marcus and I join the Digimon Data Squad then Agumon and Renamon get to stay, right?" Ash questioned while looking the Commander right in the eye.

"Very well." Sampson answered back causing all to look at him with either shock or happy facial expressions. "I knew it would happen. Frankly I'm surprise it took you two this long to ask Macus/Ash." The older man informed before adding, "And as for you Agumon and Renamon you no longer have to worry about being sent home." This made the four very happy.

"We did it, boss." Agumon said to his partner.

"Yeah, and just think of all the bad guys we get to beat up." Marcus said before giving his partner a friendly handshake. Ash simply placed his hand on his partner's shoulder, and said…

"I'm glad we get to continue to work together." She nodded because she liked that as well. Unknown to the four was that there was another coming to work for DATS.

"Approaching destination. We'll be landing very shortly, sir." A blue canine said to a blonde boy as they cruised on an aircraft.

"Thank you, Gaomon. After so long I'm coming home: at last." The blonde boy said as he gazed out the window of the plane.


	3. Chapter 3

Ash and Delia are from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

Digimon: characters and locations are from Toei Animation

Chapter 3

The return of Thomas!

'This is stupid.' Kristy thought as she watched as her brother: Marcus, and his partner Digimon, Agumon were gorging themselves at the Breakfast table. She looked at the other two: Ash and Renamon who were eating with a lot more restraint which made the young one even more embarrassed by her biological brother.

"Well, at least Marcus is awake before the crack of noon on a Sunday." The mother of the house pointed out as she looked over her shoulder while in the Kitchen to make more food for them. "I think Agumon has been a very good influence." She stated as she tried to look on the positive of this whole thing.

"More please?!" The two shouted in unison which pleased the woman even more.

"See, he even says 'please' now." She stated before walking over to the table to serve them.

'As if that's a big challenge.' The wily one thought before looking over at her partner who was silently enjoying his meal.

"Here, Agumon." She said before giving the reptile another sample of rice. This angered her older son greatly.

"Huh! You served him first! What did you do: adopt him while I wasn't looking?" The human fighter shouted at her with great anger.

"Keep it up tough guy, and I'll give your portion to him, too. Don't be in such a hurry. After all, Agumon is a growing boy." The mother of the fighter said as she still tried to remain the neutral one.

"If he grows anymore we'll need a bigger house." The DATS worker stated before getting the last thing on the Breakfast table, but was blocked by his own partner. "Let go of it!" Marcus shouted at his partner since he was determined to have the last bit of food.

"Boss, the only way your going to get this last fried egg is to take it out of my belly." The lizard said and was about to eat it until… "Huh? Where'd it go?" Agumon asked and started looking around and did not see it.

"Oh, boys." Renamon called out which caused them to face her. Without a second thought she tossed it to her partner on the other side of the table. Ketchum caught it, and had something else in mind.

"To avoid a fight I will divide it up." Ash said to them before doing just that. Once he was done cutting the other DATS worker gave them to Agumon, Marcus, and Renamon. The two gluttons weren't happy with the result.

'I was hoping to eat it all.' The yellow scaled one thought before eating his piece. Back with the raven haired one he realized that he left Kristy out of his cutting.

"Here, take it. I'm pretty full already." Ash said before giving the young one his piece of the egg. She looked at him before smiling and accepted the offer, and this was one thing that the vixen liked about her partner - he was always trying to be the good-guy. Unknown to any of them their work family was about to get a little bigger.

"The teperature today is 63 degrees, Master Thomas. Somewhat warmer than back in Austria, don't you think?" An elderly man informed a fellow in the mansion's shower. The man got out of the shower, put on his rob, and walked down one of the corridores.

'I wonder if the team is doing okay in my absence.' Thomas thought as he gazed through one of the masion's windows. Back at the normal home the little sister heard a noise outside, so she went out there to investigate which led her to see the strangest of sights.

"What are you doing, Agumon?" She questioned to the digital lizard. Said creature was sitting on a bicycle, and was trying to do the strangest thing.

"Just trying to stuff myself into the front of this here bicycle." Agumon answered her back as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.

"You might be a tad too big for that." The little girl explained to the Digital Monster who was still hard at work to make his plan work.

'The boss said I couldn't follow him, but he didn't say anything about him following me.' The lizard thought before adjusting the bike the wrong way which caused the still bike to fall over.

"Doof two." Kristy commented after seeing the end result of that plan.

"I guess." The Digimon said back to her as he began to rub his injured nose.

'He is an insult to our kind.' Renamon thought as she watched the whole thing from the roof of her temp home.

'Not that you would object of doing the same if it meant Ash gets a look at your hind quarters.' A small part of the vixens emotions thought to the fuzzy one who resisted the urge to blush at the image of that comment. As she did that Thomas was in his limo - heading to his job.

"Farewell, Master Thomas." Three maids of the mansion stated as they saw him off. As for Marcus, the bike was a bit damaged, so he had to walk, and on top of that there was still another mater to deal with.

"Run, boss. This is good training for Ultimate Fighting." The lizard shouted as he played piggy-back with his boss.

"Why can't you travel in the Digivice like all the other Digimon?" Marcus shouted since he did wish his partner could keep a low profile as Sampson requested. The creature in question heard this and decided to explain that.

"Those other Digimon only show up when they're called, but your lucky. You have me all the time, boss." Agumon stated before going back to enjoying the ride.

"Yeah, aren't I lucky." The human fighter sarcastically commented while jogging with his employee. Ash, who was behind the two, glanced at the buildings and saw Renamon leaping off of them.

'Mine isn't in her Digivice, but at the same time she knows how to stay hidden.' Ketchum thought before hearing a beeping coming from his pocket; Marcus' pocket beeped as well. The two grabbed what was making the beeping, and decided to do something about that.

"I'll just press everything." Damon commented in aggrivation since neither boy knew how to answer that ear device just yet. This idea worked since another voice was heard coming from the device.

"Marcus, Ash, there signs of Digimon near you." One of the desk workers said through the device which excited the fighter greatly.

"Where is it? People might be in danger." Ash asked through his device to the other person on the line.

"Area C-7. Can you handle it?" The woman on the other end questioned since she was unsure if these two were up for the task.

"Yeah, we're there." Marcus said through his device which his worker had to add his two cents.

"Yay." The dino said and with that they hung up on her, and ran to the spot that they remembered which sector was which. Ash on the other hand thanked the fellow DATS worker for the tip, hung up, and followed after him.

"I'm bored." A teen sitting in front of a convenience store said to two others.

"Nothin ever goes on around here anymore." Another teen sitting on the sidewalk said as he too acting a bit sloth like.

"I agree." A new voice said which sort of caught one of the teen's attention.

"Hey, pretty good. How'd you throw your voice while drinking soda?" The second teen questioned one wearing a hat who did not know what he was talking about.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" The hat wearing slacker questioned, but before the other could explain himself they all smelled something burning. They turned to see some trash burning with no cause for it.

"Fire." The three said together and saw some small, blue eyed fire demon emerge from it.

"Way weird." The second friend said while raising to his feet.

"There's our target." Ash called out while pointing at the demon. The loafers saw two boys and two animals race past them and up to that smaller creature.

"Fightin time again!" Marcus shouted out as he saw the next target.

"Oh yeah." The small being questioned as he looked down at his current foes. He shot fire at the humans who began dancing in place.

"Okay, our turn. Pepper Breath!" Agumon shouted as he prepared for his shot.

"Diamond Storm!" The vixen shouted after leaping a bit into the air and shot off her attack first followed by her fire starting chum. The opponent dodged the shard storm, but accepted the fire ball.

"Hey, my attack didn't do anything." The lizard shouted after seeing that there wasn't a hint of damage anywhere on him. "Hey, boss, do that fist trick, The one that makes me digivolve." He said once the humans joined them.

"A DNA charge? Consider it done." Ash said as the two went into a boxing pose and started throwing blows. After the first three the humans realized a fatal flaw in their plan.

"All of our punches missed. Our fists go flying right through that thing." Marcus commented, and with that they continued the same tactic, but with the same result. "It's not solid enough to land a blow." The fighter surmised.

"We have to land a blow other wise Agumon and Renamon won't digivolve." Ketchum stated while staring down the beast before them.

'Take this.' The creature thought after dodging another attack and then spat a fireball at them.

"Stop setting things on fire. I just got these shoes." Damon commented as he tried to stomp out the flames on his sneakers.

"Now be a nice, little fireball, and let us punch you." The lizard said as he punched just like the humans, but with the same result.

'Don't they realize that nothing can-.' The creature thought with confidence before the fourth spoke from above.

"Power Paw!" Renamon called out before leaping off of the building's roof, and made contact with her fist. "I guess mystical flame can harm a real flame." The fuzzy one stated which made the new arrival worry, and fled.

"After him, guys." Marcus called out before giving chase with the other three right behind him. As they were running the three slackers only watched everything, and were still confused.

"What were those things?" The one with a goatee questioned to his friends.

"A fire monster, a lizard, and an attractive fox." The squatter answered back as best as he could even though he wanted to say something more mature than attractive at the time, but chose not to.

"They're called Digimon, and you don't have to think about them ever again." A voice said to them, but when they turned to the source of the voice they were hit by something that seemed like an alien device. "Memory erase - complete. Pursue and secure. Let's go, Gaomon." The owner of the voice said to his partner.

"Sir, yes, sir." The creature said as he got out of the car. As they were tailing the four two of the four broke off to talk.

"Ash, just as we were leaving I heard a vehicle stop beside the building we were at." Renamon informed her partner who seemed confused.

"What does that have to do with dealing with that rouge fireball?" He asked her calmly.

"I smelled a Digimon within it, and I believe it may have been one of us. I suggest we leave it to them. Besides we need to do some digging on that creature." The vixen instructed back to him, and even though Ash really wanted to help he also knew that she did have a point - information was key at this time.

"Very well. We'll leave it to the guys that are tailing us." Ash admitted to her and with that the two headed back to work. The canine, who was racing on the roofs often looked down to her partner, and there was a strong part of her that wished she could walk hand in hand with him.

'I must stop these foolish thoughts.' The fighter thought and focused on getting home. Once there the two decided to hit the library instead of the main room's computer. As soon as they got a few books to read, and were heading into the main room they saw that the other two made it in.

"I am exhausted. Phew!" Marcus said after sitting in a computer chair backward.

"Don't worry, Marcus, you didn't let us down. No one here at DATS thought you could do it anyways." Yoshi commented before taking the offered tea, and took a sip. 'I thought that Renamon and Ash could. I wonder why they gave up like that.' She thought while looking at the two that were quietly reading.

"Huh?!" The human shouted out in surprise over what she just said.

"Mission complete. Digimon secured." A blonde boy said as he walked into the room and placed the egg beside Yoshino for her to deal with it from there. The arrival of this new guy caught the four off guard a bit.

"Hey, who are you, blonde?" Marcus questioned as he rose from his chair. The answer did not come from the third boy in the room, but rather the desk jockies.

"THOMAS IS BACK!" The two squealed for joy which gave the female fighter an uncomfortable shiver since in Renamon's mindset - women should just be as intimidating as men; not fan-girls.

"When did you get in?" The purple haired one questioned with clasped hands.

"This is such a pleasant surprise." The blonde girl said with her own hands clasped. Ash and Renamon focused on their books while Marcus was getting frustrated at this display.

"Hey, Renamon, check it out. There's a new Digimon here, too. Hi there, pal." Agumon said to the blue boxing canine who simply walked past the two of them and over to the blonde. "No birthday present for that guy." The reptile said after getting snubbed.

"Hey, you. When we talk you listen." Marcus shouted out after getting near the new guy, and pounded his fist onto the console for emphasis. His brother and the brother's partner decided to stay out of it…for now. "Well, want to start something?" Damon questioned once the new guy turned to face him, but was offended when he was ignored.

"Commander Sampson, sir. Thomas H. Norstein, I arrived from DATS Austria. Ready to report for duty." The blonde said while saluting to the man behind the desk.

"It's good to have you here." Sampson said back before sitting down while not looking away from the old friend of this place.

"I spent most of my flight reading your most recent reports. It seems there has been an unusual large number of appearances lately." The studious one pointed out to the leader.

"He's so on top of things." The blonde fan-girl squealed.

"He so is!" Her friend agreed with both of them nuzzled pretty close. Seeing this annoyed Marcus and Renamon for two totally different reasons. Marcus didn't like that the two desk jockies were obsessing over someone new. Renamon just didn't like this type of female at all, and didn't want to be in the same room as them.

'Still, you have to stay put just to make sure they don't try anything with your Ash.' The softer side of the furry fighter thought to her, but was somewhat ignored by the rest of the mind.

"Hmm? So, do you think these numbers could eventually the Data Squad?" Commander questioned to the more experienced of the four.

"No. But of course that all depends having the right team in place." Thomas answered back and the two of them heard a strong, and purpous coughing going on.

"Oh? Go ahead and introduce yourself, Marcus. You too, Ash." The older man said as he looked over to the human to his right. Ash put down his book about a different blue Digimon dog, and did as he was told.

"Huh? Say what! Why doesn't he introduce himself to us. We're the ones with seniority even if it is three days. Who does he think he is? Look, kid, Ash, Renamon, Agumon, and I are the top fighters around here, so don't you forget it." Marcus shouted out and the other new guy really wished his brother could cool it every now and again.

"You are completely out of line. Marcus, Thomas is yours and Ash's superior - deal." Sampson informed which shocked the fighter of the two, but not the honor bound boy.

"Marcus, Thomas was part of the Japanese division until six months ago working to control Digimon and assisting in the implamentation of transfer devices. We were having production problems, but Thomas discovered the flaw in the operating system within in hour." Yoshi explained what her boss was saying to the new ones on the job.

"But, I…you mean I have to take orders from him." The Ultimate Human Fighter stated, and could not believe that Yoshino wouldn't tell this guy all the things he had done.

"It's no surprise. Thomas graduated from the Stockholm University of Science when he was only 13. He's a genius." The one with short yellow hair explained to the two other boys.

"Genius?" Damon questioned and did not like where all this was going.

"That's just the beginning. He's also part of a prominate noble family in Austria. A real life Prince Charming." The one with violet hair informed before the two did a high pitched squeal of delight and giggles.

"Prince. Ugh!" The fighter said in disgust before glaring at the glory boy.

"As for Thomas' partner: Gaomon - his abilities in battle are unmatched by all the Digimon partners at DATS." Sampson's partner explained while thinking, 'Until Renamon came along that is.' As he gave the woman in thought an apologetic look.

'I don't care what that mutt can do. I'd still win in a fight considering he's too worried to break a claw with those boxing gloves on his hands.' The vixen thought and went back to reading about the Digimon Sovereign, and for some reason felt like she had met them.

"They are easily the best team we have." The serpent like creature said to them.

"Oh yeah?" Agumon questioned back and thought of that more of a challenge then a fact.

"Unlike some teams. They have got disciplan." Sampson said to the two humans who were both getting a little sheepish.

"Commander, please allow me to say a few words about the new recruits. Based on my first impression I feel they could never benefit DATS in anyway." Thomas said which caught both of their attention.

"Take that back!" Marcus said as he demanded an apology for that crack.

"You see? I recommend he be dismissed at once." Thomas informed his commanding officer.

"Say that to our faces. Look us in the eye. If you have the guts." Marcus said as Ash walked over to him, and the two stood shoulder to shoulder.

"Very well, you two and your partners are not suited to serve here at DATS." The blonde boy stated to them flatly.

"Thomas." Yoshi said and was offended by her friend's comment. While his fan-girls were all for it.

"Well, tough guy?" Damon questioned to Thomas.

"Let him have it, boss." The dragon egged the human on.

"Dial it down, Marcus. I mean sure he has the brains, but the four of us have the brawn." Ash stated, but was ignored and the two started a discussion of Thomas talking down to Marcus' fighting skill. After the last sentence was flung they all headed to the gym for a boxing match.

'I'm gonna punch that smug smile right off his face.' Marcus thought as he put his boxing gloves on.

"Marcus, if you don't mind I'd like a shot first." Ash stated while putting on some white wrappings on his wrist and fists. Seeing the look of determination in his eyes Marcus allowed it.

"Those aren't regulation gloves." Thomas informed as Ash leapt into the ring.

"I know, but they make fighting a bit more fun, or are you just finding a technicallty so you don't have to fight?" Ash stated back and got an annoyed look from the book worm who decided to allow it just to prove he can beat Ash no matter what.

"Beat him, Ash." The vixen said before the flower creature rang the bell. Ash led the attack with a couple of punches that just grazed the cocky one.

"What made you DATS in the first place?" Norstein questioned which caused Ash to glance over his shoulder to the fox at the bell table, but had an idea.

"I'll tell you only of you beat me." Ketchum offered, and stood ready for a blow from Thomas. Norstein punched the hero in the stomach which caused the fan-girls to squeal at the one punch victory.

"You must have bad reason to join. DATS has an important mission to carry out. Every member has an obligation to give everything they have for the success of that mission." Thomas said as he watched Ash slouch a bit, but that's all his blow did.

"That all you've got?" The raven haired fighter questioned without a hint of pain in his voice at all. This surprised Thomas and forced him to take a couple steps back for protection.

'I don't get it. He didn't even flinch. I'll just have to…' Thomas thought before punching Ash in the face which the girl's cheered for. Still, Ash's body wavered slightly, but remained standing.

"I didn't know headshots were ok. Thanks for showing that to me." Ketchum said with Thomas's glove still on his face. This was still a surprise to Thomas, his fan-girls, and Gaomon.

'Is he even human?' Thomas questioned in his mind while looking at the bruise on the hero's face, and still couldn't believe Ash hasn't fallen yet.

'Time to try something I saw on a comic once.' Ash thought before punching Thomas right in the face, and with just that one blow the blonde human fell to his back. Everyone saw that he was out cold, and all were stunned by this.

'Well done, Ash.' Renamon thought as she watched him leave the ring and walk over to her.

"I couldn't have handled him if it wasn't for our sparring time." Ash said to the canine before adding, "Now, if you'll excuse me I have to find an Antarctic ice pack." He left the room to find said item, and after coming too Thomas started his match with Marcus; asking the same question along with giving the same speech.

"That guy." Marcus commented out of anger as he sat in on of the main room's chairs.

"You should be happy your match was a draw. I've seen Thomas routinely beat Olympic Champions in that very ring." Yoshi said with First Aid kit in hand - ready to deal with those two brusies on his face.

"Whoop-de-do. I've routinely beat the toughest guy and Manodo High School. Ow." Marcus said back to her, and wondered why his head punch didn't end like Ash's did.

"Marcus, I'm not impressed by your bragging, and Thomas isn't even in the room." Yoshi said after applying the first band-aid. As if on cue the two in question walked in with Thomas also having two face blemishes.

"Oh boy." The female human fighter commented as they two glare at each other. It was then the regular lights turned off, the red lights turned on, and the alarm went off.

'Time for some real action.' Damon thought with a satisfying grin.

"Commander! There are Digimon signs in B-82." Megumi said after getting to her post and checking on her computer.

"Beginning Digimon analysis. Transferring to monitor." Miki instructed and the commander saw the information on the overhead monitors.

"Looks like, Demimeramon." Sampson stated after seeing the image on the screen. Naturally he thought nothing of it since his prized fighter had already beaten it.

"Multiple Digimon signatures, and they're increasing." The blonde desk worker explained to them as she saw more and more blips appear on her screen.

"Rapidly too. 36, 48, 62, almost 100." The violet desk worker said as she tried to count up all the dots, but last track after 100.

"Wait, I've read about this." Ash said before picking out the right book, and recited from it: "A Demimeramon can regenerate itself over and over again. Multiplying hundreds of time as little as a half an hour." This is what got his brother's attention.

'This is my fault.' Marcus thought with a slack jawed expression. Said expression did not go unnoticed.

"Something on your mind, Marcus." Kudamon questioned the teen who got the idea and shut his mouth from slack jaw mode.

"And now, the Demimeramon has been left on his own to multiply at will." The commander informed the others which didn't fill the others with any confindence.

"Sir, allow us to handle this." Thomas volunteered first off.

"We'll get it done." Gaomon added to try to cement their deployment.

"Pursue and secure." The white clad Digimon instructed to the two.

"Hey! Hold on a second - that's our case." Marcus shouted so both Sampson and the yellow haired boot licker could hear him.

"That's right." Agumon shouted out since he believed that he could take the eye level canine in a fight, but not his sister: Renamon still scared him.

"Are you 100% sure you can secure the Demimeramon without screwing it up this time?" Thomas questioned to the four by the door.

"We wouldn't have to secure the Demimeramon if you had the sense to scan the area and make sure all of them were eliminated in the first place. So, in a way this is your fault as well." Renamon commented.

"She is right. I mean after dealing with that one, and if you were as smart as you claim, you should have known that tidbit and made sure there were none left before." Ash added which angered Thomas greatly.

"No, I'll go." Norstein replied back and walked past them.

"You can't handle that many alone. We'll help." Marcus offered since he belived the might of a fox and a dragon could aid a mongrel.

"We're fine." Thomas said back when in reality he didn't want Ash showing him up - like back at the boxing ring.

"Well, guys, we're not going to let them have all the fun." Ash said with a smirk and received a 'no' shake from Marcus and Agumon, so the four of them raced to the door to join him anyway.

"Stop right there." Sampson ordered to them causing the small band to stop right at the door, and glance over at him.

"This time: Thomas and Gaomon are the best team. That was a comment that the neither the non fighter or the fighter would not have expected from their commanding officer.

"Then what does that make us?" Damon asked the two highest of personel in the room.

"Yeah, we're great." The dragon commented to the two before them since they all turned to face Sampson.

"That is a direct order." The tall human stated to them in a calm tone.

"The four of you should observe how Thomas and Gaomon operate." Kudamon informed them causing his partner to speak.

"Right. Yoshino I want you and Lalamon to go and assist." Sampson said to the two other field agents.

"Yes, sir." The one in pink said with a salute before racing out the door.

"Do not worry, Marcus. There may be other battles for us." Ash offered with a gentle hand on the fighter's shoulder. As for the current battle Gaomon and Thomas arrived by a body of water where the tiny fireballs were just floating in the sky.

"Gaomon, now." Thomas issued to his partner.

"Yes, sir." The blue dog answered back. Three of them heard the voices and decided to attack.

"Initiate, Plan A." The human said causing the Digimon to take a few paces forward and counter their fireball attack.

"Double backhand." The Rookie shouted and formed a twister which dealt with the enemy attack. Seeing this caused the three Demimeramon to fall back with the others.

"Plan A-2." Norstein said as he went with Champion level. "DNA Charge." He shouted after making his hand blue with a snap of the fingers, and slameed that energy to his digivice.

"Gaomon digivolve to…" The Rookie shouted before feeling the transformation take hold. "Gaogamon." The blue coated, four-legged creature shouted once the transformation was complete.

"Initiate plan." The partner said to the dog before him.

"Spiral Blow." The Champion shouted and fired a tornado through his mouth. The attack took them all down in a single attack.

"Well done. Perfect teamwork. Like always." Yoshi said as she put the eggs in the back of one of their small cars.

"Three minutes and ten seconds. We beat our old record by over a minute." Thomas said to his partner.

"Sir, yes, sir." Gaomon answered back since he was always glad to please his partner.

"Demimeramon in area B-17." Megumi said to them through the com link.

"Gaomon, let's go." Thomas instructed.

"Sir, yes, sir." The Digimon answered back, and after boarding the car they headed over to the next spot.

"It's as if Thomas and Gaomon never left." Sampson said as he and the others were watching the whole thing back at the base. The fan-girl still idolized that abandoned the Japanese division for a bit.

"Cute?" Agumon questioned after repeating the last word that Megumi said. Sadly the scaly one could not see that at all.

"You see? There's a huge difference between your teams and Thomas and Gaomon's team." Kudamon informed the four that were assigned to remain behind.

'Still can't believe that they think he is the best, and won't shut up about it.' Renamon thought out of anger, but decided not to show how she felt.

"Boss, wait for me." The yellow scaled one shouted as he gave chase to the fleeing human with Ash and Renamon following after them.

"You're not going to say anything?" The white Digimon questioned with concern to his partner.

"Not yet." The human half said back since he had a gut feeling a friend of his would put them back on the right path - at least for now. The four of them raced into the garage.

"Don't be upset, boss. Just because Thomas is better than you." Agumon pointed out as they were running.

"Says who?!" Marcus shouted back before tripping over his own two feet and face planting on the ground.

"I'm sure Agumon didn't mean that Thomas crack. I'm sure your better than him." Ash pointed out as he and the others stopped around their friend.

"No, I'm not. I'm just pig-headed and I let my pride get in my way." The fighter said back as he tore away a band-aid. "It's time I realized it - I still have a lot to learn. Face it: I'm not the Ultimate Fighter." Marcus said as he stood up, and walked out the doorway with the other three right behind him.

"Ugh, stupid fire." A man said, and this man is someone that both Ash and Marcus has seen before.

"What are you doing here, sir?" Ash questioned while taking a close look at the small metal pale he was sitting in front of.

"Just what it looks like - barbequing a fish for dinner. I'm having some trouble starting the fire though. You see the flames keeps dying out on me because the wind is so strong, and it keeps blowing it out." The older man explained as he fanned the flames for his fish.

"Yeah, that's happened to me too." Marcus stated as he believed this was a food talk, and nothing else.

"Well…if you learn to use the wind instead of fighting it then you can make the fire burn brighter than ever before. Harness power. Don't extinguish it." The elder informed the heroes which they understood that this had something to do with them.

"He's right." The four mutter before being alerted of another development in the Demimeramon thing.

"Thomas, Digimon signs in B-42." Sampson said to his best fighter.

"What? That's where they keep all the gas tanks." Thomas said back and seemed a bit worried.

"We're still fifteen minutes away from the gas tanks." Yoshi said while driving to the spot. This caused the four to look at one another to see if they knew what to do.

"Leave everything to us." Marcus said through his device that the others heard.

"What? But Marcus." The driver said back in a confused tone.

"Stay away." The blonde fighter said to the new guys.

"Pipe down. We can be there in three minutes." Damon said as he saw the factory they spoke of just ahead. "Come on, guys." He said to the other three who chased after him not knowing the smile the elder was making after biting into his fish.

"You're disobeying a direct order." Sampson shouted through his com link.

"Sorry, sir, but we are your closest agents, so just trust us." Ash said as they ran toward the fighting area.

"Don't worry. This time we'll get that little fireball." Damon added before hanging up.

"Oh no. Not again." Yoshi said after the hang up.

"There's no way they can secure all those Demimeramon by themselves. There's too many." Norstein said since he still thought little of the four, and as for them - they all made it to the last of them.

"Agumon, use your Spit Fire Blast." Marcus requested for his employee to use a Fire attack on Fire creatures which didn't seem right to the other three. This disbelief was strong at the base as well since they believed his plan was to blow up the gas tanks.

"But boss, Fire attacks don't work on those guys." The lizard tried to reason with his leader on a different attack: such as the stone move from Renamon.

"You heard me." Marcus shouted back, and since he didn't want to disappoint:

"Spit Fire Blast!" Agumon shouted and aimed at one of the three. He was then ordered to attack, and after two more attacks something happened - the three were becoming one and then…

"Demimeramon digivolve to…Meramon." The fire creature was now human in appearance, but with the same blue eyes and stitched mouth.

"He digivolved - now what?" The lizard questioned not knowing that the other three saw this as a good thing.

"Hey, heat-blast, come on: put one in here." Ash called out as he pointed right at his chest. The monster looked down and decided to do what he does best - attack.

"Just like the old man said: 'a fire can be blown out by the wind' then again…" Marcus explained to his worried worker before leaping into the air with Ash right behind. "You know what I always say…" He added, but stalled as the two of them punched him in the chin, came through the flames, and stood with Charged fists.

"You've got to fight fire with fire." The two of them said before adding, "DNA Charge!" With that the two felt that familiar feeling once again.

"Agumon digivolve to…" The Rookie said before adding, "Geogreymon." The bigger dragon stood ready to blast.

"Renamon digivolve to…" The furry Rookie said before adding, "Neokyubimon." The four legged fox stood beside the three horned titan. The two of them did what they do best - stop evil Digimon.

"Mega Burst!" The dino shouted before unleashing a beam attack.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" The fox shouted as she added her mystical fire balls to the beam attack. The combo once again took down another Champion - reducing him to three eggs.

"They overpowered Meramon's flame. I didn't think they could do it." Kudamon commented since they no longer saw any Digimon signals except for the good guys on the screen.

"All Digimon signs have left the area." Miki said as she double checked the area.

"Marcus and Ash proved that they could do it." Megumi commented in an amazed tone while Sampson gave them a 'humph' for what he saw. On the battlefield the three were carrying the eggs to an already full car.

"Thomas, weren't you the one that said we could talk on the Demimeramon?" Damon asked after opening up the hatch and felt pretty sure of himself over what he had done.

"Don't get cocky. You two just got lucky - that's all." Norstein said back while looking away at the two that defied another Champion level.

"Huh, yeah right. It's just like I told you - never surrender a fight." Marcus said back as he was referring to his fight with the book worm which Ash had to miss as he was icing his gut and face..

'This is going to be a cramped ride back.' Yoshino thought as they all got in the vehicle, and eventually made it back. After sending the eggs back Thomas had to get something out into the open.

"Just as I thought - you had no plans and no tactics. You just had raw power." The brainiac explained to the two other male humans: Marcus more than Ash. This caused the two to start talking to one another - a conversation that got on Sampson's nerves.

"Stop fighting now!" Sampson bellowed which got everyone's attention due to the volume that he used.

"Uh-oh. I haven't seen him this mad in a long time." Yoshi said as the others were recovering from the shout.

"Marcus, Thomas - from now on you two, and Ash will be partners." The Commander explained which surprised the three in question.

'Oh yeah. This'll be fun.' Ketchum thought as he listened to the two's reasons why they can't work together.

"That is an order." Sampson said to them causing the two to glare at each other for a moment and then look away.

"Oh man. This is the worst." Yoshi thought out loud, and the others couldn't agree more, but the Digimon prayed that this was a good idea.


	4. Chapter 4

Ash and Pokedex is owned by Nintendo/Gamefreak and Cartoon Network

Digimon is owned by Toei Animation

Chapter 4

The new Three musketeers: Ash, Marcus, and Thomas

The four piece team was on a current case involving a small green slug-like creature; that was leaving a mess everywhere. "Ugh! Just look at this place. Slime everywhere, and that smell. So gross. My guess is that the digimon we want is inside." Marcus, partner of Agumon, informed the team as they all stood outside of an attacked building.

"Nothing gets past you. Does it, boss." Agumon complimented his partner at such an astute observation.

'Good thing that Marcus is so good at restating what we already know and already see.' Renamon thought to herself while also not a big fan of this case since this gunk was always a pain to get out of her fur.

"Don't sweat it, Renamon. I'll help you get this stuff off of you back at home." Ash whispered to her which caused the creature to look at him. Out of instinct she mentally shook his words away since she did not wish for her other side of her brain to catch wind of it.

"Can the chatter and move in. We've got a job to do." Yoshi informed them before they all went inside. As any search goes they started at the basement level which the trail helped with that.

"You're not getting away this time numamon." Damon shouted out as he made it to the entrance with Ash right beside him.

"Guess he's in the basement, then." Ketchum suggested to the others as Renamon and Agumon made their way to their human partners.

"Don't worry, Boss. I'll get him." The yellow lizard informed since he was really wanting a scrap with this living snot trail.

"Wait." A third voice informed them causing the two in question to turn to the voice. The person being Thomas with his Digimon right beside him. "We need a plan first. Gaomon, guard this entrance." The blonde haired human instructed the blue furred dog.

"Sir, yes, sir." The boxing specialist answered back with raised fists.

"Marcus and Agumon will go to the other entrance that way when Ash and Renamon go in to push him out – he won't be able to escape." Thomas told the group the rest of his plan which Ash and Renamon nodded in understanding while his brother wasn't sold at all.

"Don't boss me." The fighter of the group shouted back.

"The commander made us a team. We have to work together." The smarter of the three informed the other two of what had happened recently.

"That doesn't mean that you get to make the plans." The brawler shouted back at him before adding, "Come on Agumon." With that he ran off with his lizard friend right behind him.

"Right." The fire spewing lizard shouted back and charged down the steps with him.

"I doubt he'll live long enough to learn to work with us. Let's cover the other entrance." Thomas stated and the instructed as he and his partner stood in the doorway that the first two ran through.

"Sir, yes, sir." The blue furred canine replied back, and with that the two ran off leaving only the yellow creature and her hat wearing comrade.

"So, now that the bickering has stopped where should we go?" Renamon asked her friend as the stood in the hallway. The young worker of good thought it over for a bit and then knew what to do.

"Thomas can take care of himself. Let's get in there. Perhaps we can reason with Numamon and avoid any kind of fight." Ketchum informed and offered to her since there was no one around to spook him talking him down might work. With that decision made the last of the new team walked through the door and down the stairs. This left the only human girl of the team and her partner left in the slime covered hallway.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Lalamon questioned as she floated there, curious if her friend's could pull their cart together.

"I don't know. What in the world was the Commander thinking making those three partners in the first place." Yoshi said back with crossed arms. In the basement of the building they were in the four tried to find their green/purple target, but could find nothing...at least the humans couldn't.

"Come on, where could he be?" The brawler of the group questioned out loud as he looked at the ground.

"He's close. I can smell his putrid stench anywhere." The fox creature stated to the others as she sniffed the air since she did not wish to have this gunk anywhere near her nostrils.

"Hey guys." The yellow reptile called out causing the others to head in his direction. The group head to him and then see their target.

"Now, if we approach him calmly I'm sure that we can reason with him." Ash informed them since he still often tried to avoid a fight if he had the option.

"Forget that, Ash. We just have to pound him hard and fast." Marcus argued before racing off to to slimy one. Agumon loyally followed after him with the other two taking a defeated sigh and then followed after them – knowing that this was going to end badly. Further into the room that they were in were the other two members of their team.

"I'm picking up movement. It's heading this way. Gaomon, take a forward position, and await orders." The yellow haired human informed and instructed to his blue furred chum as he looked at his map with a moving red dot.

"Sir, yes, sir." The digimon answered back and did as he was told. As all the heroes did their own thing their target was looking around since his eyes could look in all directions because they were designed like a snails eyes.

'Looks like I lost this humans.' The green/purple thought as he scanned around, but did not see his pursuers.

"All right. In: 3...2...1. Get him." The calculating one ordered to the other as he timed their attack perfectly.

"Double Backhand!" The boxing themed brawler shouted out and spun like a top to the enemy. The numamon in question became frightened when he saw the blue top heading straight for him, but he was able to secrete a lot of slime and slide out of the way; not knowing that he dodged a chop attack from a yellow lizard behind him.

'So that is what an uncoordinated attack looks like. Good to know.' Renamon thought as she watched her fellow fighters slam into one another. This caused the human partners of the two to start arguing and pointing fingers.

"Guys, calm down. Our opponent fled." Ash informed them while placing a hand on both of their shoulders. The two reluctantly did as he said, but as soon as they did their opponent started throwing 'handfuls' of slime at them.

"Power Paw!" The yellow furred one shouted out and started punching the enemy attack to keep her team safe and clean. Out of a desire of self-preservation the beast kept up his attack. The last of their group came over and with one look from the defender Lalamon took to a sneak attack.

"Seed Blast!" The floating bulb called out and shot her attack which sent it back to his egg form immediately.

"Nice shot, Lalamon." Yoshi called out once the battle had been won in their favor. With the danger over the tallest of the Rookies powered down her fists and could feel Ash's smile on her even with her back to him. "You would be lost without me." The human female of the group stated after picking up the egg.

"This guy got in my way." Marcus shouted out as he pointed an accusing finger at the brains of their group.

"What a joke. My plan was flawless. It only failed because you didn't listen to me." Thomas countered argued with Ash wishing that the knew how to flow like a team should.

"Well, I would listen to you Thomas. If you ever had anything worth while to say." The brawler shouted back which got under the genius' skin.

"You jerk. No, make that you cocky jerk. You're just a snot nosed amateur. You don't even know what you're doing." Thomas stated back to him and this was getting on Ketchum's nerves, so he nodded to Renamon. Taking the initiative she covered Marcus' mouth before he had a chance to speak.

"No need for this, guys. The day is won. The battle is done. What say we just leave it at that?" Marcus got free of Renamon's grip and grumbled a response as did Thomas, but the nodded in agreement to Ash's proposal. Once they had dropped off the egg back into the Digital World they all went home.

"Listen. I...uh...thanks for the ride home, okay." Marcus said to Thomas, who went out of his way to drop Ash, Renamon, Agumon, and Marcus home. Ketchum already said his thanks and went inside with his fox-like friend, but the brawler of the two stayed behind to talk.

"Well, don't think me. I just did it because the commander said to." The brainiac informed while looking straight ahead.

"Huh?" The brown haired youth questioned back to the rich boy in confusion.

"He's probably hoping that we will become friends if we spend time together. Yeah, like that will ever happen." The one in the car replied back and believed that statement because there was no way he could learn anything from a neanderthal like Marcus, but the jury was still out on Ash.

"Well, fine, I take it back then." The brawler said back to him, and wanted to leave since this conversation was going no where, but that is when he heard a familiar voice.

"Marcus. Wow, check this out. What a cool car." The little sister of the lizard handler said as she walked over to the visiting vehicle with a large smile on her face.

"Go inside, Kristy." The elder brother instructed.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Marcus?" The little sister questioned before looking in the open window.

"I would if he were my friend, but he's not." The fist first boy informed her with his hands on her shoulders wanting to push her into the direction of the front door as quickly as possible.

"Just ignore him that's what I always do. I'm Kristy." The little one informed the new guy since she saw that he seemed a little down, so she gave him a genuine smile. Back inside the mother of Marcus saw Renamon and Ash get a couple cans of V8, and then looked around for the others.

"Sorry to ask this, guys, but where is Agumon and Marcus." She asked them, and since the two were too busy quenching their thirst the two just pointed outside. She understood, and headed out on her own.

"Go." Marcus said to the smaller creature since the subtle way was not working on her.

"Wanna come in? Mom's making tea." The little sister informed to the new guy since she wished to be friendly to this guy.

"What's all the racket about?" The woman in question questioned after getting outside near the end of the conversation.

"Nothing, mom." The elder of the two informed since he wanted this guy gone as soon as possible.

"Marcus' friend drove him home." Kristy informed, not knowing that the others were already inside since she was getting a few things at the convenience store.

"Oh, well, thank you very much, Mr. Marcus' friend." The mother stated to the one in the car, and saw a look in the young man's eyes. A memory rolling in his head, but it was not her place to pry. "Would you like some tea?" The mother asked in a gentle tone after seeing him nod to her.

"No, mom, he doesn't want tea." Marcus informed her in a rather forced tone.

"Marcus, don't be so rude." The older woman said to him in a ordering sort of tone. The blonde one believed that this was a good enough time to leave.

"We can go now." Thomas informed the driver which shifted the vehicle into drive and drove down the road.

"See, he can't even stay." The fellow worker of DATS pointed out to her as the black car went on by.

"It's polite to offer, though." The watcher of Ash informed back to her son.

"Bye. See you soon." Kristy shouted out while waving her left hand to the vanishing vehicle.

"Thank you." Sarah, mother of Marcus and Kristy shouted out to the vehicle as well. "He seems nice." She informed to the two around her which angered her son. Up on the roof were Ash and Renamon, fully re-hydrated, and watching what had happened down below.

'Why does it feel to me that Kristy should be a bit more cynical about the world around her?' Renamon thought to herself as she watched everything while Ash was curious how he could make Marcus and Thomas true friends since mother and daughter seem ready to accept him. In the car the boy in question was thinking of something as well.

"Huh. Family." The rich boy said to himself as his driver drove him home. Near the morning hour of the next day were a pair making a withdraw of sorts.

"Hey, we're in." A tall man said to a smaller human after using a scanning device on a electronic lock.

"Did you really by pass the security that quickly?" The other thief questioned and sounded suspicious that it could be done in that short of time.

"Yeah. With this beauty – it's easy." The older one said back and walked over to the defenseless door.

"Wow. Could it get me a date too." The younger one questioned since he wasn't having that fair of luck in that field.

"It doesn't do the impossible. Just open the door." The tech savvy one instructed which caused the other to groan in defeat before doing as he was told. After some walking the two made it to their target inside of the bank.

"Man, this is easy. We broke in and didn't even break a sweat. Get it?" The younger one stated as he waited for his friend to unlock the safe with his scanning device.

"You'll get it if you don't pipe down." The tech centered thief said back since he had a gut feeling that there was still security guards and the last thing that he needed was for this amateur practically announcing where they were.

"Where did you get that thing, anyway?" The new guy questioned his stealing mentor.

"I just ordered it over the internet. Now watch this." The more experienced one replied and instructed before seeing that the locks of the safe have been picked. "And we're in." He informed once everything was unlocked.

"Awesome." The other shouted out before turning the nob and opening the door. "Come on, let's grab the loot." He shouted out after opening up the door and leaving his mentor behind.

"Hey, wait up." The more experienced one shouted out before following after him.

"Whoa, look at all of these jewels!" The new guy shouted out as he opened a drawer and saw their target.

"Don't lay a hand on anything except for the cash. You got that." The one in charge informed before tripping on the other one's bag. He did not fall, but the device he used to hack the door did causing it to sizzle it's circuits and undo it's handiwork.

"We're going to be thrown in jail. Aren't we?" The new guy questioned with fear in his voice.

"It's your fault for leaving your stupid bag on the floor." The other one shouted back which was the truth even though this was their first heist together. Near the fried device a strange hole appeared and out from it came a purple and white creature with a drill for a nose.

"Don't come any closer." The older one shouted out completely fear ridden.

"Do something." The youth shouted out at him. "You've got to save me." He added to his first statement.

"Save yourself." The first thief said back as he raced closer to the door, and was tempted to throw his apprentice to the beast if things went bad.

"Relax." The third creature in the safe stated to the panicking people.

"Huh? You can speak?" The younger one questioned in awe and confusion.

"Yes, of coarse I can." The beast said back to them while tilting his head; wondering what the strange fur-less one was talking about.

"No way! What in the world are you anyway?!" The second thief shouted out since he was still trying to make sense of what was going on right in front of him.

"This is crazy." The first guy stated before seeing the drill and added with a big smile, "Can that nose of yours dig us out of here?" Since it looked like a drill the man assumed that it will work like an actual drill.

"Stand back." The creature shouted out while activating his drill. Walked over to the wall, and went to work.

"This is just too weird. What in the world is he?" The younger one questioned to the other since his mind was still trying to make scene of all of this.

"If he manages to get us out of here then he's our friend." The other informed back, and looked back at the creature. Sure enough the beast was able to drill through that thick slab of stone that was keeping them inside. "Come on. Let's go." The older one stated as he followed the tunneler out.

"Wait for me." The second human shouted out before following after them. Unknown to the three was that they set off a different kind of alarm in a different building.

"Sir, we have received word of a bank break-in." Miki informed her boss of some up to the minute news.

"Energy signatures indicate that a Digimon was involved." Megumi informed him as she saw the read out on her computer monitors.

"More good news as always." The warrior in the pink vest informed in an obvious tone as they saw the holo pictures of the event in question.

"It's just as I thought. Digimon are appearing more frequently." Sampson stated as the pictures switched to an electronic device and the bank manager. "We could be facing an epidemic." He added to his first statement.

"A device was found at the scene that has a signal that attracts Digimon." The blonde one informed the others which explained the change of the pictures before them.

"Hacking into the banks security system must have accidentally opened a gate into the Digital World, and the Digimon simply went through it." Thomas informed them as he looked over the waves the device gave off and the waves that Digimon enjoy.

"Not exactly what the thieves were expecting." Yoshi stated to the others and wondered how scared those humans were in contrast to how Marcus and Ash dealt with them.

"If those criminals somehow convinced the Digimon to work with them..." The older man stated to say and then his partner finished his thought.

"We've got trouble." The small white/gold creature informed. The thieves on the other hand were trying to get used to their new friend.

"Hey boss, can I ride in the front with you?" The new guy questioned since he did not like the way the creature was looking at him.

"Naw, you're good company for him." The leader informed as he continued to drive their small vehicle.

"He's really going to stick around?" The child questioned back to his boss.

"You bet." The beast said back since he genuinely liked these guys, and would do anything for them.

"I've got big plans for him." The leader stated as he ended with a chuckle. Back at DATS the computer specialists were hard at work as to figure out which Digimon was out and about this time.

"We've matched the energy signature to a Digimon from our data base. Drimogemon, Champion Level, beast Digimon." Megumi informed to the others, and then let her friend take it from there.

"Looks like he lives deep underground like the mole it resembles. Using its drill nose – it can dig through the ground at extremely high speeds." Miki finished where her friend had left off. The blonde one added one last bit.

"Meaning it can strike without warning." Thomas informed them, and about that time Ash, Marcus, Agumon, and Renamon had just made it into the command room.

"Another Digimon has appeared?" Marcus questioned with a happy smile on his face since he was itching for another fight.

"Well, it's about time. So, where have you four been?" The girl of their four person team said to the late arrivals.

"I was doodling, and I guess I just lost track of time." Ash said back while rubbing the back of his neck out of reflex. She seemed to buy that and turned her attention to Marcus.

"Hey, it's late. I couldn't just say: hey mom, I'm going out. I had to sneak away. Anyway, does this look like a good fight." The brawler reasoned with her. Hearing the 'm' word got under the brainy one's skin causing him to lash out.

"If your so worried about your mommy then you should have just stayed home." Thomas stated to Marcus while looking away from him.

"What did you say?" The brawler questioned even though he heard him perfectly. Before another argument could start Ash stepped in.

"Marcus, Thomas: break it up." Ash said to them causing the blonde one to speak up.

"This is between me and Marcus so why don't you stay out of it." The brainiac said to him, but Ash could hear the underlying tone of anger in his voice.

"Be a good boy, Thomas. Remember what happened last time." Ketchum stated causing the kid genius to recall their fight in the ring, and how he was knocked out with a single punch. That silenced the blonde. With no further arguing Marcus headed over to a computer console.

'He's probably going to break our equipment. Good thing I though ahead.' Norstein thought to himself with an invisible smile on his face as he reached for the jump drive in his vest. The raven haired one of the group saw where his brother was going and decided to stop him.

"Hold on, Marcus, play this Punch Out game for the Nintendo DS instead." Ash offered as he pulled said device from his vest, and tossed it to him.

"That's cool, but I was going to try and help." The boss of the reptile pointed out.

"No offense, but I have seen your touch in the computer lab a couple weeks ago, and I don't think the commander wants to buy another computer system." Ash reasoned with him causing the two to chuckle a bit which got under Thomas' skin since the two of them were getting along so well. "Besides, I don't think you can beat my score of punches." The pacifistic one commented causing to get the warrior's attention.

"Is that so?" Damon questioned back before turning the device on and went to work. Most of the others smiled at Ash for his calm demeanor and ability to settle a fight.

"That reminds me Ash. You asked us to make you a portable version of our knowledge on Digimon, and I was able to do just that." The man with the cool shades informed the youth as he opened one of his drawers and held out a small red square with a blue bauble in the upper right corner.

"Thank you Commander. This will come in handy if Renamon and I run into an opponent and we won't have Miki and Megumi to fill us in." Ash stated to him, and the others before adding, "And just in time too." Since their alarms went off right then and there.

"We've picked up a signal on drimogemon." The blonde one informed as she looked at her monitor and saw the little red dot.

"And it's moving extremely quickly." The long haired computer girl added as she clocked the speed he was going. "We've picked it up in area A and it's already in area B no C." She informed them and could not believe the creature's speed factor.

"Right, mobilize." Commander instructed causing their four field workers to salute and race out. "Ash, Renamon, I want you two to take the DATS cycle." He instructed before adding, "In the gym I saw that you focused on the motorcycle the most, so I'm letting you take it." He tossed the raven haired one a set of keys to the vehicle in question.

"And near it is a holograph belt. I know that you want to remain near Ash to keep him safe, so that holographic belt will mask your true appearance to the rest of the world." Kudamon informed her which she nodded in appreciation.

"Come on. We better get going." Ash stated and the two headed off to get their wheels and head out. On the open road the ride to their target was anything but comfy...at least for three fourths of the team.

"The Digimon is now in area D." Megumi informed them through an on-board com-link.

"Roger." Yoshi answered back as she continued to drive calmly to the destination.

"Finally, we get to see some action." Marcus said to the others with a big happy smile on his face.

"Yeah. I'm itching to fight." Agumon said with a smile of his own as he tried to sit in the small vehicle. "I can't wait to face this guy." The yellow scaled one added while looking straight ahead on the road.

"This is just ridiculous." The genius shouted out as he was leaning into the passenger side front window: just to try to get some room.

"What?" Damon questioned since he wanted to know what rich boy's problem was this time. Other than his brother showing him up back at the headquarters.

"Put this oversized oaf in your digivice. He's crushing me." Thomas replied back and meant that last part quit literally.

"But I can't stand being in there. It's so cramped." The lizard fighter explained to him: explaining the problem as bluntly as possible.

"Great. I get to sit with two nitwits." The egghead said aloud as an obvious insult which was completely noticed by the target...at least the human.

"Hey, what did you just say?" The brawler shouted out and knew that those were fighting words.

"Give it a rest you two. Can't you two agree to put this behind you and work together as partners?" Yoshi offered to the others while trying to maintain her cool while driving

"He's not my partner." The two bitter rivals replied in unison.

"Well, at least you agree on something." The girl in the vehicle muttered to herself.

"My only saving grace is that Ash is back there: getting smothered too." Thomas muttered to himself before glancing through his side mirror and saw a motorcycle speed by and both the drive and the passenger seemed familiar.

'Time to attempt at scaring.' Renamon thought before reaching for the belt and deactivated the holo-belt to reveal her true self, but quickly turned it back on.

"You've got to be kidding me." The genius muttered a bit louder than his first statement since he wondered what made Ash special enough to drive their cycle. One of the computer workers back at their base spoke:

"The Digimon has stopped in area E Sector 2." Miko informed them once the small red dot had stopped at a certain spot on the map.

"Roger." The red haired girl said back and sped up a bit to the location mentioned. The three in question were at an ATM in that sector, and the two humans desired the money locked inside.

"You want me to make a hole here?" The digger questioned while pointing to the spot in question.

"That's right. It's very important." The older man informed him while gently pushing his drill in the right direction.

"There you go. X marks the spot." The younger thief informed after drawing said letter with a white marker. The mole-like creature walked over to the objective, and went to work. "Man this thing is just awesome!" The inexperienced one shouted out in amazement.

"He is, but imagine it. We can break into any bank with this guy." The more experienced one stated as he watched his new 'friend' continue to drill. "He's in." The leader shouted out once he saw dollar bills started to fly out of the still being drilled hole.

"Whoa, boss, look – it's rainin` cash." The second one shouted out as he saw the dollar bills fall to the ground.

"Alright, you can stop now." The leader of the three instructed to the tunneler.

"Okay." The Digimon said back even though he had no idea why his friends were interested in these colorful rectangles, but if it made them happy then he was happy.

"Forget the ones on the ground. Get over here." The boss ordered as he ignored the dollars on the sidewalk, and instead went straight to the hole.

"But why?" The youngster questioned back since he thought they were interested in all of the money, and that is why he was collecting them.

"It's a molehill compared to this mountain." The older thug stated causing the other to look at the hole and see the bigger bills still in the hole.

"Yeah. Mountain money." The yes kid restated what the leader already did, and walked over to the hole as well. "We're going to be super filthy rich." He said once he got over to his leader.

"It looks clean enough." The creature said to them while looking down at the rectangles and did not understand what the smaller creature was talking about. It was about that time that the cycle and the car made it to the same ATM machine.

"There he is. He's robbing an ATM." The driver of the car informed the ones at the base as she sped closer to the small building in question.

"Renamon, stay here. I'm going to try something." Ash whispered since he was parked on the other side of the ATM sign on the ground. She nodded in response, and he jogged over to the car.

"Coppers." The leader said as a pair of headlights right in their faces.

"We're busted." The younger one said as he was mentally kissing his chances of having a girlfriend good bye.

"Don't even think of running." Yoshi ordered to the three of them after getting out of the car.

"Step away from the Digimon, now." Thomas ordered once he was out of the vehicle.

"Boss, let me out." Agumon shouted as he wanted to get out of the car since he wanted to fight the Champion Level first.

"You let me out!" Marcus shouted back as he was trying to get out of the car to fight the creature, and maybe the two others as well. Right at this moment though they were pretty much stuck in the doorway.

"Hey, those guys aren't police." The leader pointed out since by their voices they were younger than the boys in blue that he met, and they seemed more focused on his latest addition more than stopping them.

"Then, who are they?" The younger one questioned since the only law enforcer he knew of growing up was the police and the military. If these four were not either of them then what were they.

"So, you're drimogemon." Yoshi pointed out as she went for her digivice. Ash however could see that the creature was scared.

"Put those things away." Ketchum spoke out as he put his hands on the tops of both Thomas and Yoshi's digivices. "Let's try not to start a fight." He said to them while stretching his neck to his left shoulder which his 'brother' understood.

'He's actually going to talk to criminals.' The blonde one thought and did not like how calm the street-kid was taking this.

"It's okay, drimogemon. We are not going to hurt you. My friends and I just wish to take you to the Digital World. I bet you miss it there." The raven haired one of the group said in a calm tone.

"I...I do miss my home. I came to this place by accident." The driller informed before looking at the two others and added, "What about my new friends?" The two were shocked that a creature they just met was worried for them.

"If they cooperate I will make sure that their sentence is reduced. That is – if they willingly release you into our care." Ash responded before looking at the two others. In truth the leader felt an obligation to do so since when he looks into the creature's eyes he could tell that he longed to be home, and have a human by his side was a bit of a rarity.

'I must keep the integrity of DATS.' Thomas thought since he could feel the two about to go through with Ash's offer. "We don't negotiate with criminals, Ash. Gaomon, realize." The genius informed then ordered.

"Sir, yes, sir." The blue and red dog stated once he was in the physical plane.

"Lalamon, realize." Yoshi shouted out as she summoned her creature out as well.

"Lalamon." The pink and green creature shouted out once she was out of her device. This rightfully freaked out the two humans.

"Aah, even more of those things." The young thug shouted one the other two were out and about.

"Come on." The leader said as he grabbed drimogemon while also giving Ash an apologetic look before running to their ride.

"Wait, come back." Gaomon shouted out as he gave chase.

"Quick, get in. The boss instructed to the driller as his partner had already opened the hatch, and leaped inside.

"There's no use running. There's no escape." Gaomon said to them as he ran with his fists ready.

"We'll see." The boss said back as he got into the driver's seat, and sped off. He saw that there were already two others standing in his path – ready to stop them.

"Agumon!" Yoshi called out since she believed that the reptile was going to end up as a speed bump.

"Agumon." Thomas called out and could not believe that Marcus would be this reckless.

"Renamon." Ash called out causing the vixen on the cycle to roll in. She activated a special battering ram accessory and joined Marcus and Agumon. "This will keep them from going any where." Ash informed the two others and it was then that the blonde one realized why Ash stretched while talking to them: he knew this was going to go bad.

"Stop you three, that's dangerous." The human girl of the field team called out to them, but they didn't listen. With their combined effort the three were starting to push the moving vehicle backward.

"We're in big trouble." The leader said as he was in awe that these three were pushing his new wheels back.

'My friends need me.' The mole creature thought before tapping into a new kind of power that made him grow.

"I think he's digivolving." Marcus pointed out, but his observation was quickly cut down by the cyclist.

"More like he's growing to protect the others." Renamon informed as she still sat on the bike. Back at the base the alarms went off at this development.

"Status report." Sampson ordered as soon as he heard the alarms go off again.

"In response to the threat drimogemon is growing." Miki informed as she looked at her monitor and then back to her commanding officer.

"Not good." The leader commented since he knows that his warriors have not battled against a larger Digimon.

"Our team's in trouble." Kudamon pointed out since he too was worried about his friend's well being. Back on the battlefield the dig class Digimon crushed the get-away car, and stood ready to fight.

"It's enormous now." The yellow scaled one commented as he marveled at the size of this beast. The human beside him only smiled for a different reason.

"That just means it's finally worth fighting." Damon pointed out as he cracked his knuckles out of anticipation.

"Yeah. You're right boss. Let's do this." Agumon stated with a smile forming on his own face. The drill creature wasn't backing down either since these three are the ones that stopped his friend's from getting away, so he struck at them with his right claw which they evaded easily.

"Alright. It's fightin time." The brawler stated as he got his fists into position.

"Let's see what new data dex has." Ash stated as he went for his new device. It told him nothing new, but soon something else was added.

"Larger drimogemon can tunnel through the earth in faster speed than smaller drimogemon." Dexter pointed out once it scanned the creature's current size.

"So, we'll need a strong strategy to counter that ability." Thomas stated out loud once he heard that new piece of information, but before either of them could think of anything the fists first warrior spoke.

"Bring it on." Marcus called out before leaping up, grabbing and climbing on the nose. He was going to punch the beast right between the eyes, but was flung off before he could do such a thing.

"Boss, no." The lizard called out as he watched his partner fly into the river.

"That's my bro for ya. Always thinking with his fists." Ketchum commented with a small chuckle in his voice.

"Gaomon, drimogemon needs earth to dig. Drive him to the water." Thomas instructed since he believed that this land based beast had no control over the sea.

"Sir, yes, sir." The boxing bruiser said back, and did just that.

"Pepper Breath." Agumon called out as he unleashed a fireball. His way to avenge what had happened to his boss. The drill simply tilted his head away from the fireball, and swatted him into the river with a simple slap.

"Agumon." Marcus called out as he watched his partner fly into the air. Thankfully he crashed into the water near him.

"Should we do something, Ash?" Renamon questioned after driving up next to him.

"First let's see what these two can do." Ketchum replied back to her, and watched as Gaomon used his Rolling Upper attack on drimogemon's nose.

"Nice shot. Don't let him escape underground." Thomas ordered to his partner as he stood before the fight.

"Rolling Upper." Gaomon called out and struck the beast's left face cheek.

"Drive him to the water." The partner to the blue boxer called out.

"And we'll be waiting for him. Right, Agumon?" The brawler of the humans said with a smile once he heard the plan.

"Right behind ya, boss." The lizard said back since he wished for a second chance with this guy.

"Come on, let's go." The human said back to his partner and with that they swam all that way. Seeing them leave caused the last pair in this trio to use the cycle and go to the spot in a different way.

"Sing a Song." Lalamon called out and used said attack to knock both of the humans out. Which Yoshi positioned back to back.

"Pleasant dreams you two." The human of the duo said and was happy that at least these two weren't going anywhere.

"Nighty night." The caster of the lullaby said to the crashed crooks.

"The bank thieves have both been subdued. Requesting transportation arrangements to take them back. We can erase their memories at headquarters. However drimogemon is still at large." She contacted base and filled them in while looking off at the distance and saw that her friends were busy dealing with this threat, and not working together at all.

'I must get to my friends, and see if they're okay.' The digital mole thought and planned to do just that, but his attacker had other plans.

"Stop him before he goes underground." Thomas instructed once he saw that their target was starting to dig again.

"Beat back." The canine called out and rapidly punched the drill causing him to stop.

"Good Gaomon. Now steer him to the river." The genius instructed which his digital partner followed through. "Everything is going. According to my plan." The human pointed out and seemed to emphasize 'my'.

"We'll take it from here." Marcus said to the other two as he and Agumon made it back to the land. The two climbed up and stood on the other end of the path.

"Right. Now it's our turn." Agumon added as he stood before Marcus – ready to fight.

"Don't forget about us." Ash stated as he on his cycle stood before Thomas with Renamon, de cloaked, and ready to fight.

"And if you thought you had it rough before just wait." The fist fighter said to the opponent since he was really ready to throw down now.

"Oh, no. They are going to ruin the plan." Thomas muttered to himself, and then watched the fight.

"Spit-fire Blast!" The reptile called out a secondary attack which struck the beast.

"Yeah. You show him Agumon." Marcus rallied his partner to keep up the attack.

"No. Keep him over the water." The blonde boy argued to the warrior while jogging closer to the fight. The warrior heard this and had something to say to him.

"Back off. We're going to take this guy down our way." Damon shouted out at the human and the explained why he was doing this, "Cause wherever we fight we come out on top." As he said that Agumon kept up the attack which caused the mole to leave the sea.

"If you fight over water he can't escape underground. You are going to let him get away you impulsive fool." The smart one of the three called out and pointed out the flaw in this fist first strategy.

"Now, while they're not looking." Ash whispered to his partner since the two knew that he would be able to burrow with their bickering. The two came up with their own backup plan to deal with this runaway rodent.

"Power Paw!" The fox shouted out before slamming her fist into the beast's right side before back-flipping away from him.

"Boss, he's digging." Agumon called out causing the human of the that duo to come out of his shock state.

"He turned and ran from a fight? What kind of Digimon is this guy?" Marcus questioned out loud in anger as he raced to the newly made hole.

"The kind that turns and runs I guess." The lizard replied since he thought that the question was a genuine question. With him gone Ash hopped on his cycle with Renamon, re-disguised, and drove off to follow one of their own leads.

"Unbelievable. Change of plan, Gaomon. Marcus just made this harder. But maybe judging by his behavior we can track drimogemon. It's time to digivolve." Thomas said as he looked at his portable computer for a solution, and came up with one. "DNA charge!" He called out after feeding his charge into his digivice.

"Gaomon digivolve to..." The Rookie said as he felt the energy flow into him. "Gaogamon." The new born Champion called out once the transformation was complete.

"We'll cut him off." Thomas instructed as he climbed onto the back of the large blue dog.

"Sir, yes, sir." The obedient soldier responded.

"Quick to area F you better double time it." The human informed while pointing in the commented direction.

"Right." The four legged beast responded before racing off. This left Agumon and Marcus all alone.

"Oh no. Now what?" The reptile questioned since he did not wish to be left out of all of the fun. Thankfully the human of the duo had a plan of his own.

"We prove that his way isn't the only way." The brawler answered his employee before looking down at the hole. The creature continued to dig not knowing that he was being followed.

"We're getting close." Renamon commented as they continued to drive with her hands on his shoulder. Back in that fight Renamon struck the mole with her Power Paw, but some of the mystic fire remained on him which meant for a short time they could track him. Eventually the two made it just in time to see the wall below them begin to crack not knowing of the two others.

"Just as I calculated." The egghead commented once the beast had revealed himself again. "And this time Marcus isn't around to mess it up." He added to his first comment before looking up at his partner. "Go get him, Gaogamon." he ordered to the larger creature.

"Sir, yes, sir." The canine said and leaped at the enemy.

'Now, while he's not looking.' Ash thought as he leaped off of the railing and slammed his fist on top of the mole's head. The blue canine saw this as his chance to attack.

"Dash Double-Claw!" Gaogamon shouted out and struck the opponent. Not into fighting the creature tried to disappear back into his tunnel, but was punched back out.

"We're the ones that you should be worried about." Marcus pointed out with his fist all a-glow.

"No way. He followed drimogemon through the tunnel." Thomas called out as he was trying to figure the logic behind that. It was then the brothers decided to do their thing.

"DNA Charge." Ash and Marcus called out as they fed their charge into their digivices.

"Agumon digivolve to..." The spunky yellow one shouted out before finishing with, "GeoGreymon." The three horned beast stood ready for battle.

"Renamon digivolve to..." The fox called out before transforming as well. "NeoKyubimon." The four legged yellow furred one called out.

"Haven't you already done enough damage, Marcus?" The smart one questioned since he knew that he could deal with this Champion on his own.

"It's fightin time." Damon called out since he decided to tune out the know-it-all, and just fight. The mole tried using his spiral nose, but GeoGreymon countered it with his horn, and then shoved the beast back down. "Nice one." Marcus praised his creature and that was when they both saw a bright white portal appear.

"Oh no, a Digi-Gate opened." Thomas called out in alarm.

"Stop him." The brawler added since he still wished for a fight. Drimogemon slowly made his way back to the portal: now more concerned about personal safety and not so much about those humans he left behind.

"Awaiting orders, sir." Gaogamon commented since he knew that his partner had a plan.

"Attack immediately." The genius called out without a second thought. "You can't let him enter the Digi-Gate." He added to his first statement to make sure his partner knew the significance of not letting the beast go.

"Right. Spiral Blow." The canine called out a tornado from his mouth.

"Go, GeoGreymon." Marcus called out since he did not wish for Thomas to save the day.

"Mega Burst." The wingless dragon called out his attack after letting his head glow a bit before unleashing it.

"Don't count us out." Ash called out before looking up at the giant fox.

"Fox Tail Inferno." NeoKyubimon called out her attack while firing several fireballs from her tails. The digger grew worried and ducked out of instinct, after several minutes the beast looked up at an amazing sight.

"The three attacks are canceling each other out." Thomas stated as he too was amazed that their attacks really were doing just that.

"How stupid of me." Ash called out before hanging his head in defeat. The creature saw the human bob his head which the mole-like beast took as his cue to flee into the hole.

"No!" Gaogamon called out once the portal was closed.

"Fine job, you two. You let him escape into the Digital World." Thomas said as he was quick to point fingers at the fire casters.

"Us? This all happened because you were butting into our fight." Damon countered as he was still feeling angry because he wasn't able to see what that Digimon was really made of.

'Actually this all could have been avoided if Thomas would have just let me do it my way.' Ash thought to himself as he listened to the rest of this conversation.

"I can't take anymore. I simply refuse to be on a team with either of you, Marcus or Ash." The yellow haired one admitted in anger.

"Good. I'm sick of you holding me back anyway." The brawler of the group shouted back. With nothing else needed to be said Thomas left. After a while the three powered down to Rookie form, and they all headed back to base for debriefing. As the sun rose for a new day.

"The blockades to E and F have been lifted, and the bank thieves memories have been completely erased." The blonde computer expert informed them.

"What do you mean you can't work together?" Sampson questioned since he wondered why the more experienced soldier in their group was whining about the new guys.

"They are always getting in the way of the mission." The smart one reasoned with, and that was the only explanation that he could come up with.

"I told you three to work together, so make it work." The commander of them all instructed in a serious tone.

"I don't get why we have to be partnered with this guy. Ash and I can more than take care of things." Marcus stated while sitting near the computers playing his game and wondered why they even needed Thomas in their tag-team style.

"Then here's your next mission. Figure it out yourself." Sampson said while still carrying his serious tone.

"Two of you let your personal issues get in the way of the mission. That simply can not happen again. You got that?" Yoshi ordered to two of the three since she had a feeling that Ash was always in control.

"And now drimogemon is out there somewhere." The small white 'scarf' commented to the others.

"We may yet get another crack at him, but you simply failed." One of the founders of DATS said back to them. This time Ash could hear a trace tone of disappointment in his voice.

"You have to think of the big picture. What if he gets other Digimon to join him, and they infiltrate this world in numbers too large to stop." Kudamon informed them causing Ketchum to speak out.

"I don't think that will be the case. Drimogemon seemed more scared then anything. At best he will simply avoid any holes in the area that he himself did not make." This still angered the strategic one.

"Commander, permission to use the Digital Dive." Norstein requested to his higher up.

"Hmm, the Digital Dive?" Sampson questioned while having minor flashbacks of his adventure into that realm.

"You wanna go to the Digital World?" The human female warrior questioned as she held her Digimon.

"Do what?!" Ash and Marcus shouted out since they were unaware that such a thing could be done.

"We still have a chance to win. Please just let me do this, and I promise that I will capture drimogemon." The genius offered to his leader since he had to do this.

"No way! I'm sorry, but I simply can not allow it!" Sampson shouted back since he knew this batch was too green for a world like that.

"But sir, we can't just give up." Thomas offered to him: trying to appeal to the philosophy of never giving up.

"Enough! You failed. Accept it." The Commander said to him in a serious tone, and wondered why his top man was behaving in such a manner.

"But, commander." Norstein tried to reason with him again.

"There's no guarantee you'd come back safely. Permission denied." Sampson declared as his final word. This angered/upset Thomas, but he kept it in. Later that night Yoshi was on monitor duty, so she looked at one of her books with a cup of tea by her side.

"Man, this has been a dull shift. Not that I'm complaining about having a little downtime, mind you." Yoshi said to her digital partner as she flipped the page of her magazine.

"Sounds like that's exactly what you're doing." The seed creature pointed out before adding, "Oh, how cute." Once Lalamon caught a glimpse of some cats in the magazine.

"Yeah, look at them sleeping. I sure wish that I could take a nap." The young woman commented. Just then the door opened up. "Hello? Is someone there?" She asked before cautiously walked out into the hall. "Ah, the door!" The monitor duty one called out and went to the closed door, but it did not automatically open like it usually does. "We just got locked out Lalamon." She informed her partner while heading to a nearby console.

"By who?" The plant class questioned.

"I don't know." She replied back before banging on the door and shouting at them. When that did not work she went back to the console and finally got it.

"Wait for me." The floating fighter called out once her partner raced into the command center.

"The Digital Dive has been activated." The female human pointed out and saw a familiar figure in the machine, but was too late to do anything. "No way, Thomas." She stated, and knew the two to call to handle this problem.


	5. Chapter 5

Ash, and any mention of Pokemon is from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

Digimon characters and locations is from Toei Animation

Chapter 5

Digital World, here we come!

Yoshi took a deep breath, reached for the phone, and was about to dial up those two, but heard the door open up with a pair of familiar voices. "I hate to point this out, but you heard our leader. The Digital Dive is off limits." Ash informed since he did not know why he was doing such a thing since he knew that the mole would not want anything to do with Earth.

"Don't be such a downer, Ash. Come on, Agumon. It's just through this door." Marcus answered back while looking over at his employee.

"Right, boss." The reptile replied as he eagerly followed the reckless one's plan. A part of both him and Renamon wanted to see what their home world really looked like. The lizard thought that it would have several pieces of the human world: telephone poles, subway cars, mail boxes, street signs, and several other things. Renamon believed that it had several layers, and the only way to get to the other layers is through beams from the Earth. The two along with their partners will get their answers very soon.

'This is such a bad idea.' Ash thought as they all went past the doorway, and Ketchum saw Yoshi in the room as well. 'Right. She had monitor duty tonight.' The hero thought while continuing his walk into the room.

"We're in, baby." Marcus commented with his back to the wall, and a smile on his face.

"Quiet as a sleeping mime." Agumon commented as he watched the door close behind them. Their victory was short lived as the monitor duty one spoke out.

"What are you two doing?" The pink vested one shouted out which caused the 'sneaking' ones to turn and face the lady that spoke to them.

"What's the problem here, Yoshi? You seemed to have been looking at the transporter, and not a monitor." Ash pointed out to her causing the woman to look at him, and with a deep sigh filled them in on what she had just seen.

"Thomas did a Digital Dive? I'll teach him to be sneakier than me." Damon proclaimed to the others with clenched fists.

"Sneakier than us, you mean." Ketchum reminded him that the four of them were a team. The others liked the brotherly bond these two had until the yellow fox cleared her throat causing them to get back on task.

"What is Thomas thinking? Going for a Digital Dive even though it has never been tested on humans. He should know better that something horribly wrong could happen." The girl on the computer commented as she continued to work.

"He is a proud soldier. Thomas does not like letting a perp go so he decided to handle it alone, but I don't understand why go after someone on their natural soil. Wouldn't that make Thomas the intruder?" Ash stated while ending in a question.

"There." She called out causing the others to look at the screen and saw a small blue dot with the word alive right next to it.

"What is that?" Renamon questioned since she has never seen this part of their job.

"Thomas' digivice signal. I'll bring him back before..." The computer woman commented, but was stopped when the word changed to lost.

"What's wrong?" The yellow lizard questioned since he wished to know why she cut herself off.

"I lost him." She answered back with devastation evident in her voice.

"Well, that's horrible. Wah! Yoshi...we're going for a Digital Dive too." Marcus informed her while leaning on Agumon's head like an armrest. The group did not wait for an answer, and just headed for the machine.

"Guys, listen to me. It's dangerous." She informed them since she did not wish to loose her other friends.

"That doesn't matter. I'm not going to let Thomas finish the fight that I started." Marcus said to her since he was still wanting his fight with the tunnel creature. She was about to rebuttal, but another voice cut in before she had a chance to speak.

"Not as dangerous as leaving a teammate behind." Ash said back to her in a dead serious tone. That did make a logical sense, and it did reflect well with Ash's character. "First we need this machine to work." Ash said before adding, "Please, help us, help him." Seeing his expression and knowing who he was Yoshi nodded and went to work.

"I'm sending you four where we first lost Thomas' signal. So bring him back and don't do anything else, stupid. Okay?" Yoshino informed and questioned to the four of them.

"Whatever, just do it." Marcus replied back to her since he was more concerned about the fight, and not just sitting around here – talking.

"Once you get to the other side I can't help you any more." The one on the computer informed the away team. Ash instinctively spoke for the others.

"We understand. Don't worry. We will return home safely." He said to her with a smile which caused her to have some faith in what they were about to do.

"Just remember one thing, you guys, make sure that all of you are back at your point of entry by O500. Otherwise I won't be able to bring you back." She warned the search party, and despite some grumbling from the warrior the two understood.

"Transfer preparations at 80%." Lalamon informed as she did her part on another console.

"Digital Harmanizer aligning. Security code recognized." The girl of their team informed through her screen.

"I'm getting kind of nervous boss." The lizard admitted since he remembered of the chicken egg was transported through this same machine.

"Ah, don't be such a baby." Marcus replied back to him.

"Digi-Gate Open!" Lalamon called out causing the two of them looked up and saw a bright light that surrounded them.

"Are we sure that this is safe?" Ash questioned since he too was feeling a bit nervous about this whole thing.

"We're about to find out." The fox creature said back to him as the light completely engulfed them.

"Begin transfer." Yoshi shouted out once her partner was finished counting down. The four of them were gone as was the light inside the machine. 'Good luck.' The one in pink thought as she looked at the now empty machine.

"Wow, the Digital World is really odd. The ground and the sky are upside-down." Ash informed as he and Marcus were looking at the landscape before them. At that moment the lizard and the fox came into view – also upside-down.

"Actually boss, you two are the ones that are upside-down." Agumon pointed out which made more sense to them.

'Not a bad angel to fall.' The fox thought to herself as she allowed herself a moment to let her darker side enjoy the view. 'Stop it. You like him as a friend and nothing more.' Her logical side thought as she shook her head, and those thoughts away. Out side of her head the two of them got back to their feet, and were looking around.

"Our first time in the Digital World." Marcus called out as he and Ash realized that this was their first time seeing this place, and it overall seemed peaceful. There was a blue sky with some sparkles of some sort, the ground was different themes just like on Earth. There was still a few odd things, but overall it was still a relaxing location.

"Yeah. Ours too." Renamon informed their human partners which confused them somewhat.

"Wait a minute. You two are both Digimon." Marcus pointed out to the bit based wonders walking along side them.

"That's true, boss, but I've been at DATS as far back as I can remember." The reptile informed with Renamon nodding in agreement.

"You know. It doesn't seem that far off from our world." Damon informed as he took interest in a leaf. Ash and Marcus were intrigued that this place was pretty much a mirror reflection of Earth.

"Ash, over here." The taller of the two Rookie levels called out causing the two to turn to them. She gestured for them to come to her which they did, and were greeted by another strange sight.

"What a funny looking river. Eh, boss?" Agumon stated to his employer as they all looked into the flowing water.

"I get it. Since we are in the Digital World then that means everything is digital." Ketchum stated with a sense of wonder in his voice.

"Ash, above us." Damon called out which, for some reason, got Ash to get defensive.

"What is it?" Ash questioned as he scanned the land around him, but saw nothing wrong.

"Look a little higher." The brother in arms instructed which Ash followed causing him to add, "A flock of flying dragons." Ketchum chuckled at that as he relaxed a bit.

"You don't see that everyday." The raven haired of the human duo pointed out.

"Or those Digimon either." The furry one said to them as she pointed at some tan furred heads with a shark fin of sorts sticking out of their foreheads were just hopping along.

"What are those?" The scaly one questioned as they saw some sort of pink creature with a blue flower coming out of they're heads.

"Walking plants." Marcus answered back with a big smile on his face since he was starting to like this place more and more.

"Man, this place is amazing. Very peaceful." Ash said to the others as the four of them were simply walking along enjoying the overall sights of the place.

"Just remember, Ash. We're on a mission to find and fight that digital mole." Marcus pointed out as he saw this place as a means for a good fight, and nothing else. "There has to be a sign of him or a clue where he is going somewhere." He added, which did make sense.

"What about Thomas?" The reptile-like creature questioned since he did wish to uphold his request from Yoshi to find and bring Thomas back safely. None of them knew that Yoshi knew exactly the answer to such a question.

"Forget him. Let him figure out a way back on his own. I mean: what's stopping him from saying something like that?" The pink jacketed one questioned to her partner as she sat at her station.

"Marcus would never say that." The floating seed pointed out as she had faith of the good in the warrior human of the group. Unbeknownst to her he was about to say just that until Ash slaps him in the back of the head before he had a chance to speak.

"What did you do that for?" Marcus shouted out since he did not appreciate getting Gibbs slapped.

"I know what you were about to say, so don't. Thomas is an important member of this team, and we will find him." Ash instructed, but saw that his old friend was not sold on the idea, so he tried a new angel. "Besides: can you imagine his embarrassment of a genius like him being saved by a pair of people that he thinks are beneath him." Ketchum offered and that seemed to get his attention.

"Well, what you waiting for Ash? Times a wastin`." He called out and took point of this little rescue mission. As they continued to walk the group were a little overwhelmed of how big this world was.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Renamon questioned while pointing at a location that seemed to look like the Roman Colosseum, but covered in ice.

"I have no idea, but it sure is shiny, like a diamond." The hat wearing hero put in his two cents of what he was seeing.

"Pretty." The lizard pointed out before something similarly shiny caught his eye. The base of the object was flower in appearance, but the piece on top was not; it was a rapidly flashing computer or television screens.

"Let's try looking over there." Ash offered as he pointed to a rather large root which the others agreed to. Once they got there the team saw the location a bit better. The brawler than pointed out their next spot: a cliff-side footpath.

"All of this stuff seems pretty random." The simple minded warrior pointed out to the others even though he had a feeling that the others had already grasped that concept.

"I ell like I'm getting dejavu, boss." The fire thrower informed which confused his employer.

"You don't even know what that means." The brown haired one pointed out, but he himself knew what it meant, and it made no sense. Agumon and Renamon were born in DATS, so how would they know the lay of the land. All of a sudden both of the creatures stopped which caused the humans to stop as well.

"Something the matter, Renamon?" Ash questioned, and was a little concerned.

"Something is coming." She informed which got their attention. At that moment the Digital World began to shake. There was soon an explosion above them and out came their target.

"Drimogemon!" Agumon called out in alarm.

"Looks like he found us instead." The boss to the one that spoke before called out. The rescue party watched as he fell, and a cloud of dust appeared. Once it settled the team only saw the mole's lower half sticking out.

"I think he's stuck." The passive one pointed out before hearing the beast start up his drill. "Nope. He's starting back up. He's fine." He added after hearing the creature start up again.

"Now, he's gone." The hard skinned one pointed out as all they saw now was the hole he left behind.

"Hey, wait for us." The fighter shouted out since his need of fighting this creature overrode his duty to rescue Thomas. With a simple shrug Ash followed after him with Renamon right behind him. Unknown to the rescue party Yoshi had lost their signals as well.

"I just lost Ash and Marcus' signal too." Yoshi informed her old friend even though she knew that her Digimon could see the 'Signal Lost' statement of the screen just as easily as she could.

"Oh no." The creature pointed out since she knew the downside of that world, or at least she believed that she did. Unknown to them was a rather large shadow walking into the room she was in.

"This is the worst. Why does this sort of stuff always happens to me?" The human girl stated and questioned while trying all sorts of different methods to find the lost DATS members.

"Try expanding your search perimeters." The plant class Digimon offered to her partner.

"Please let me spot them even for a moment." Yoshi muttered to herself while focusing all of her energies on the computer before her. It was then the shadow behind her decided to make himself known.

"What are you doing?" The man questioned to her since he could tell that she had not even felt him enter the room.

"Just bringing hope to these hopeless fools. How could I have let Ash talk me into this." Yoshi responded before adding a, "Doop!" Once she had realized who she was talking to. The young woman hoped that she was wrong, but once she turned and looked up she as greeted by her boss glaring down at her.

"It seems you are searching for something. What, exactly?" The small, white Digimon informed and questioned while emphasizing the what in his second sentence. The young one did not think of having a cover story ahead of time, so she had to try an on the spot lie.

"Ah...an...an earring. That's it. Right, Lalamon?" Yoshi informed them, and was praying that her partner would back her up.

"I think I left my bathtub running." The small digital beast responded while slowly floating away from the man in charge out of fear. Back in the Digital World the four were still following the tunnel maker down his hole.

"He sure moves fast for a big guy." Marcus pointed out as they all continued to follow him.

"What do you expect from a creature that's whole purpose in life is digging in the ground." Renamon pointed out as she continued to keep her eyes on target. Eventually the creature broke through and they were in a big area, but they were still underground.

"Ok, let's go get him." Marcus instructed as he and Agumon gave chase.

"Marcus, something doesn't feel right about this. Marcus, wait up." Ash informed him, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. With nothing else to say he and his fox-like friend followed after them. Soon, the four of them saw as he went back underground.

"He cut and ran again." The warrior complained as the opponent fled again.

"Marcus, we need to fall back now." Ketchum instructed to the other two.

"Look, there he is." The fighter called out as the beast resurfaced only to disappear again. Drimogemon did this tactic several times over which got on Marcus' nerves. "Stand still so we can fight." He shouted turned and saw that the enemy was now standing before them with a big smile on his face. With that smile he slapping the ground.

"Thanks to all of his drilling this section has become unstable." Ketchum informed before they fell into the rather large hole. Eventually they stopped falling, but were hurt.

"Man, that smarts." The fighter said as he rubbed his head.

"At least we had these soft rocks to break our fall." The lizard tried to bring up some good news to his employer and then saw Renamon holding Ash rather closely.

"Hey, Renamon, ride's over. You can let go of me now." Ash informed her even though he did enjoy the feeling of her fur on his face.

"Oh, right." She replied with a nervous tone in her voice. She then released her which he helped her to her feet, and once that was done a voice called out.

"You four?" The man of the voice questioned causing all to turn and face the owner, and saw that it was their other targets: Thomas and Gaomon. The blue furred canine went to work getting them out the others decided to share notes.

"So, you four fell for Drimogemon's trap as well, huh?" The blonde one questioned once he understood up to that point of their story. That is when it dawned on the fighter how these two got down here.

"Hold it! So, basically you were outsmarted by a giant gopher." Marcus pointed out causing the two of them to start laughing about how the genius didn't see this one coming.

"Ease up, Marcus. Think of it like this. If it wasn't for that trap then we would never have found Thomas or Gaomon." Ash informed which stopped the laughing fit.

"Sir, I have found a way out." Gaomon informed as he uncovered a large hole for them to use.

"Excellent. Well done, Gaomon." The partner of the boxing Digimon stated and turned to face the hole only to stop with a wince of pain.

"Your leg is damaged." Ash informed at the turn pant leg with a minor trail of blood coming from it.

"I'm fine. This barely qualifies as an injury." He responded to them and was about to be on his way, but felt the two hold him up with Ash to his right and Marcus to his left. "Let go. Whatever help you intend to offer I don't-." Thomas tried to argue that he was fine, but was cut off.

"Yes you do. Don't let your pride get in the way of making friends or letting others help you when you really need it." Ash offered to him which brought a tear to the fox's eye and emotional snot trail from the lizard.

"Don't worry, Thomas. We can start arguing once we make it outside." Damon vowed to him as they all walked through the various tunnels. Eventually the strain gets to Marcus since they hadn't made any headway. "Which tunnel do we go through now?" The fighter questioned as he saw all of the holes that surrounded them now.

"This is Drimogemon's den. All of these tunnels have given us a mighty underground labyrinth." Ash pointed out, and as they tried to figure out where to go to next Yoshino was getting a rather large chewing out back on Earth once she had come clean.

"Such foolishness." Sampson shouted out in rage once she had finished with the story.

"Why would you violate the rules like that Yoshino?" The small Digimon questioned to her since this seemed a little out of character for her unless Ash or Marcus did something to her.

"Sending Marcus and Ash into the Digital World – without permission! Do you know what you've done?!" Sampson shouted at her in rage since he had a feeling that both mothers would be very displeased at this news.

"But I didn't have any choice." The young woman responded back to him as she tried to explain herself to her commanding officer.

"QUIET!" He shouted back to her since he did not want to hear another word from her.

"It's a waste of time reprimanding her. We need to focus on finding the others." The small white Digimon informed his old friend so that he himself could calm down a bit and focus on the situation at hand. Back in the Digital World the explorers were still deep beneath the ground.

"Hey, why didn't you digivolve Gaomon and break out earlier?" Marcus questioned since he knew that he and Yoshi didn't have to summon a charge like the two of them did.

"If I could have I would have." He responded, but saw that the both of them were a little confused so he added, "Gaomon." The canine understood what was needed of him so he walked to the wall to his right and gave it a firm punch causing it to shake, but not cave.

"Instability in a cave." Ash informed after the shaking stopped, and nothing else seemed to have been wrong.

"Because there are so many holes it's become extremely unstable so if I had Gaomon digivolve it would have certainly caused another cave-in." The genius informed them, and that did make sense since all of their Champion forms were a little on the large side.

"That's true." Marcus said to his rival. The team traveled in silence until they came to a fork in the road. "I say this way." The fighter said to the others as he pointed to the left, but the person the two of them were carrying motioned his head to the right. Before another fight could start Ash butted in.

"Hold on, Marcus. Look down there." Ash instructed while pointing down at a coin standing before the tunnel they were about to use. "I saw Thomas drop that the first time we used that tunnel. It's to show us not to use it again, right?" Ketchum explained and then looked to the blonde one.

"That's right, Ash. Sharp eye." The tactical one responded, but before they left to the right Ash went over to the coin, picked it up, scribbled something on the ground, walked to the others, gave the coin back, and the two continued on their way out of this twisted maze. As they went on Agumon's resolve about leaving was beginning to wain.

"Hey, boss, when are we going to get out of here, already?" The reptile shouted out in anger since they were no where near the exit. His response came in the form of the fox Gibbs Slapping him. "I'll be quiet." He replied after the feeling of paw meeting skull.

"Worry not, Agumon. I know that we are almost out of here. Just remain positive, and we can handle anything." Ash informed to the yellow scaled one behind him with a smile on his face.

"Being positive has nothing to do with getting out of here; however we are heading in the right direction." Thomas informed them as he still used the ways of logic rather than heart.

"You know: you can be a real buzz-kill sometimes." The fighter responded to him. The genius just reflected the comment back at him. As the explorers continued on their journey the others were still trying to find them.

"Grr! Haven't you found those Digivice signals yet?!" The commander shouted at the four that were called in at this hour to run the monitors.

"It's taking longer than anticipated, sir." The longer haired one responded as she continued to type out information on her console.

"There's too much static interference." The blonde girl tried to reason to her boss as she tried to do the same thing as he human partner was doing.

"No excuses. Hurry." The tallest human in the room ordered. This left Yoshi and Lalamon to just stand there and to hope that the others will return soon. Back on the other side the team made it to a clearing of sorts, but they all stood at a cliff with no way down.

"How are we going to get down from up here?" The fighter questioned out loud as he looked down at how far the ground was.

'I wonder if there are any tunnel based dogs that prefer to be underground, and if so will they obsess over Renamon's Diamond Storm attack.' Ash thought as he felt as though he has met such beasts.

"We have no choice. We have to find another way down." Thomas instructed to the others before turning around and wincing in pain.

"Sir?" The loyal blue canine questioned after hearing that groan/

"Is everything okay, Thomas?" Ketchum questioned with genuine concern in his voice.

"I'm fine." He responded with a rather harsh tone of voice which caused the brown haired one to shrug in indifference. All of a sudden they heard footsteps coming their way.

"Boss, it's Drimogemon." The fire breather informed the others at the oncoming creature.

"Alright. This is a one in a million chance, Agumon. Let's go get him." Damon instructed as his adrenaline to finding a fight was getting the better of him.

"Hello, Earth to Marcus: remember what I said about the caves being unstable." Norstein instructed since he knew a Marcus style fight would decimate the entire field around them.

"Then we'll just have to fight without digivolving." The brawler said back to him with determination in his voice.

"Think about what your saying. He has the advantage down here. Without digivolving we can't win." The smart one said back to him since he knew that three Rookies couldn't take down a Champion.

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Ash offered since he wanted to hear what the genius had in mind with dealing with this problem.

"Let him go passed us. We have to make it to the surface first." The brainy one informed them, and the 'brothers' looked at one another of listening to his plane.

"I have a faster idea. Marcus, grab Thomas. We'll be taking the shortcut to the surface." Ash instructed as he continued to keep a silent eye on the tunnel beast. The brawn grabbed the brains, and made it to the cliff's edge.

"A real champion doesn't run and hide. Let's meet the enemy head on." Marcus said to him after grabbing Thomas and standing at the edge.

"Stop thinking with your fists." The smart one tried to reason, but it didn't seem to have any affect on either of them.

"Everyone, jump now while he's right under us." Ketchum ordered and did just that with the others soon following after him: Marcus, Thomas, Agumon, Gaomon, and Renamon. "Now, grab a good chunk of fur and hold on tight. I'll go see if I can talk him into taking us home." Ash instructed and did just that not knowing that their right felt him climbing upward.

'What's that on my back?' The beast thought before looking up and seeing the raven haired one from Earth. After some awkward silence the creature bellowed out in alarm and started up his drill.

"He's going to make another cave." Thomas informed even thought he had a feeling that this was exactly as Ash was hoping for.

"Time to try something I've seen in a movie once." Ash shouted out and pulled on the beast's fur causing him to turn and tunnel in a direction he didn't want to. After several moments they broke through to the surface.

"Daylight!" Agumon shouted out with joy in his voice since he was so happy to see the sky again.

'Did Ash plan this all along?' Thomas thought to himself with disbelief in the forefront of his mind, but was stopped by his partner's voice.

"Sir, we should really get off." Gaomon offered as he still tried to hold onto the fur with his red boxing gloves.

"Not yet." Ash said back to the dog before adding, "If we fight him here he'll just tunnel away again. We need an element he can't tunnel through." That did seem like a sound plane to go with, but none of them knew the lay of the land well enough to guide him to.

"Ash, the Colosseum!" Marcus shouted at him causing Ash to nod, and force the beast to turn where he wanted him to. After a while they found their target which shocked the egg-head.

"It's made of ice!" Thomas shouted out in alarm since he did not expect these two to come up with a plan that actually worked. "Of course, Drimogemon can't dig his way out of this." He added once they all made it inside.

"It's fighting time again!" Ash/Marcus shouted out before giving their opponent a major backache and headache with their punches and then jumped off.

"At last! Time to fight!" Agumon shouted out with great happiness.

"DNA Charge!" Marcus shouted out first.

"Agumon digivolve to..." The reptile shouted out before feeling the energy course through him causing him to change into, "GeoGreymon!" The horned one shouted out.

"DNA Charge!" Ash shouted out next.

"Renamon digivolve to..." The vixen shouted out as she felt Ketchum's power course through her causing her to shout out, "NeoKyubimon!" The four legged one stood ready for battle.

"DNA Charge!" Thomas shouted out since he did not want to be kept of the fun.

"Gaomon digivolve to..." The boxer called out once he felt his partner's power inside of him. "Gaogamon!" The now fellow four legged one shouted out once his transformation was complete. As the all stood ready to fight Ash saw something...wrong.

"Guys, look, is Drimogemon...seizing?" Ash questioned once he, and the others saw that he was shaking rapidly before them.

"I don't think a Digimon can seize in the same way we do. I believe it's something more dangerous." The smart one informed them which made them a bit nervous. Back on Earth Yoshi and the others were still searching for them.

"Static removal at 82 percent." Miki informed to the others.

"Monitor restored. Begin scanning." Megumi informed and brought the monitor up and they were relieved at what they all saw.

"Ah, they're all safe!" Yoshi shouted out with a happy smile on her face.

"Wait a second!" The long haired beauty shouted out before hitting the alarm to get everyone's attention.

"What is going on?" Kudamon questioned since he knew that the alarm meant nothing good.

"Digimon signature, and it's enlarging rapidly." The alerted one informed them

"It's not one of ours. It's something totally different." Megumi informed them as a means to tell them that their freak out is not paranoia.

"Drimogemon is..." Sampson said in alarm and then let his partner finish his statement.

"Digivolved." Kudamon shouted out and it was true. Before them was the beast changed into a yellow/purple creature with green eyes.

"Let's see what Dexter has to say" Ash informed as he pulled out his device.

"Digimon, a Digi-Egg of Knowledge Digivolution. Digmon is said to be the swiftest tunnel Digimon both underground and above the ground." The device started to explain that much, but Marcus only saw that has a greater challenge.

"This just got a lot more interesting." Damon shouted out and tried to attack, but was slapped away for his troubles. Seeing this angered GeoGreymon, so he too went on the attack. "Did it work?" The human partner questioned after he saw that his employee made a direct hit. Ash consulted with his device:

"Due to the durability of his armor Digmon is highly resistant to standard flam attacks." The device informed them a little too late.

"Spiral Blow!" The blue furred out shouted out and attacked, but he dodged out of the way and countered with one of his own.

"Gold Rush!" The attack hit the wind elemental hard.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" The multi-tailed out called out, but the attack was dodged and she too was slapped away.

"Ash, Marcus remember out first fight with Drimogemon." Thomas stated to the others who nodded in confusion. "Gaogamon's Spiral Blow, GeoGreymon's Mega Flame, and NeoKyubimon's Fox Tail Inferno all canceled each other out.

"Still not following." Damon admitted since he did not know what the genius was thinking as he brought up that little blemish in their fight record.

"Your wanting to combine our attacks against this guy." Ash offered as his view on it.

"Exactly, but our timing has to be perfect." The smart one informed the others.

"You three fall back to us." Marcus shouted out to the others which they followed orders with GeoGreymon standing in between the two canines. After a stare down between the two sides Digmon tried to make his move, but the others were faster on the draw.

"Mega Flame!" The dragon shouted out as he launched his attack.

"Spiral Blow!" The dog shouted out as he launched his attack.

"Dragon Wheel!" The fox shouted out as the fire from her tails balled together and launched outward while the rest of the body remained where it was. The wind and fire attacks combined and the dragon engulfed the combo attack – making it even stronger.

"The opposing attacks didn't cancel each other out. They fused together instead. With their powers combined I wonder how much the strength of their attacks increase by?" Thomas questioned since this seemed like a very promising discovery.

"Who cares about all of that. All that matters is that we're winning. Attack!" Marcus shouted out to the others which they did just that. After a few more moments the armor fell apart, and the enemy was defeated leaving behind what could only be the Digi-Egg of Knowledge and a white egg with purple circles on it.

"Egg-selent work, you three." Ash shouted out to the others causing them to give their interpretation of a good nature smile at Ketchum's choice of words in this situation.

"Get it? Cause he's an egg, you see?" Damon questioned to Thomas before laughing about it. With nothing else needed to be said the team de-digivolved and headed out while leaving the eggs behind.

"Back in the cave. When we all jumped onto Drimogemon. You planned for him to dig to the surface and head to the ice arena, didn't you?" Thomas questioned to Ash since that thought still needed some sort of closure.

"I knew that we needed to fight the tunneler on an even field, and once I saw the ice field I knew that it would make the perfect spot, but getting from underground to there was all luck I'm afraid to say." Ash informed him with an honest face and honest tone.

'He's passive, but he knows how to throw a punch. He wants to find a way to deal with the Digimon that doesn't involve fighting, but he knows what to do in a big battle. He is one unusual character. The same for Marcus; I can't analyze either of these men with my intellect. How do you make the illogical logical.' Thomas thought it over before speaking out loud. "Wait a minute you two." He said causing them to stop and let go of the big brain for a moment. He held up his fist, and almost instantly the two knew what he wanted.

'We're a team, Thomas." Damon informed as he fist bumped with him. Ash on the other hand put their fists into hands with their palms face down, and then he put his hand on top of theirs.

"Welcome to the group, Thomas." Ash informed him with a kind smile on his face which got a nod out of the smart one. With nothing else needed to be said they resumed their walk back to the drop zone.

"Looks like the boss got a new employee." Agumon shouted out with a smile of his own.

"Let's not push it." Norstein countered the praise with a statement of his own. They all dreaded going back because they all knew that their base leader was going to not be happy with them. The six got back and stood along side Yoshino and Lalamon to await what their base leader had to say.

"You fools!" Sampson shouted out and then let his Digital Monster have a word in.

"You were able to make it back this time, but did you think of what would have happened if you had failed. There's so many more pitfalls you three don't know about the Digital World." The 'scarf' informed them and then let his human speak.

"As members of this organization you must follow the rules. I have only one more thing to say to you three..." He informed them and then let the sweat a bit before finishing with, "Well done. It's good to have you safely back home." This caught them all off guard, but they were all grateful of hearing that.

"Sir!" The six of them shouted out with a salute: happy of the experiences shared this day, and that their boss was concerned for their well being.


	6. Chapter 6

Ash Ketchum and any gear is from Gamefreak/Nintendo and Cartoon Network

Digimon characters and locations is from Toei Animation

Chapter 6

The Ultimate disagreement between friends

Ash, Marcus, Renamon, and Agumon were in a heated battle with a stone creature called Tortomon that seemed like a walking rock turtle. The humans were acting as a diversion while the reptile and the fox got into position. "Diamond Storm!" Renamon shouted out after leaping off of an edge, and launching her attack with her brother right beside her.

"Pepper Breath!" Agumon shouted out and launched his own attack. The two blows hit hard which allowed the humans to go on the attack.

"DNA Charge!" Marcus proclaimed as he used his charge into his device.

"Agumon digivolve to..." The yellow lizard shouted out before ending with, "GeoGreymon!" The three horned warrior stood ready for battle.

"DNA Charge!" Ash shouted out as he put his charge into his device as well.

"Renamon digivolve to..." The yellow fox shouted out before ending with, "NeoKyubimon!" The nine tailed creature stood ready for combat as well.

"We need to keep this fight contained." Ash ordered before turning to the two Digital Monsters on their side. "GeoGreymon stand by for battle. NeoKyubimon go with our special two part combo attack." He instructed which they understood even though the bipedal one wanted in on the action.

"Fox Tail Inferno!" The fox shouted out and launched the fireballs around the turtle causing him to be a little confused with this strategy. The fireballs grew a bit to keep him in one place for as long as they could.

'Does this upstart think his pet's attack will stop me?' Tortomon thought to himself as he started out an attack of his own. "Strong Carapace!" He shouted out with his shell pieces all aglow. The fox saw this and launched her second part.

"Dragon Wheel!" She shouted out as she hit the turtle with her other attack square on before the enemy's attack could have launched. The other four got there, but they seemed a little miffed when they saw the light show.

"I explicitly told those two to wait until we caught up with them." Yoshi gripped as she saw the blue flame dragon in the sky. "But do either of them wait – no, not Mr..." She started to continue where she left off, but stopped when she saw the minimal damage in the area.

"Marcus and I lured the target away from populated areas, and then with a combo attack NeoKyubimon finished the job." Ash explained while the creatures went back into Rookie forms. Damon then picked up the egg and started spinning it on his finger – feeling pretty confident.

"You two shouldn't be this impulsive. We have to get the job done right; not just quickly." Thomas informed them before walking back to the car.

What's the matter? Ya jealous?" The fighter questioned in a boastful tone of voice as he rested his free arm on his partner's head.

"Sorry, but no autographs." The employee added after hearing what the boss stated.

"No, he's right. If you guys rush into battle, and get into trouble what will you do then?" The one in the pink vest questioned since she wanted to know what at least two of them had in mind.

"Ha! We'll just take them down too. There's no Digimon alive that can take down the Ultimate team." Agumon pointed out to the others.

"Yeah, we're the strongest team around." Marcus added with a wide smile of his own.

"Well, you can't say that my old friend and his partner aren't confident in what they do." Ash said with a nervous chuckle in his voice. The two others only sighed in defeat since there was no use trying to reason with the two of them, but Renamon seemed to hiding her anger of how arrogant these two are. With nothing else needed to be said the group they teleported the egg back home, and then they all went home.

"You guys made it just in time." Mrs. Damon informed them once she heard four distinct sets of feet enter her home. They all said their hello's and sat down for a well deserved Supper, and while four of them were enjoying their meal there were two that were arguing.

"This is very good." Ash complimented to her as he sat by Kristy and Renamon sat at the end. The two were silently enjoying everything while their friends were busy stuffing their faces. After a few moments the two were done with their meal. "Okay, Renamon and I have homework to do. Thanks again." Ash stated to her before putting away his dishes and headed up stairs.

'Why can't Ash be my brother?' Kristy thought to herself before turning her attention to her real brother and his Digital Monster. "Why do boys have to act like boys?" She questioned out loud before sipping some tea.

"Oh Kristy, believe me, one day you will be glad that they do." The bother informed her off spring with a warm smile on her face. The little one did not quite believed what the older and wiser one was saying would make much sense.

"Sounds like they're having a really bad fight down there." Renamon informed as she took a slight break from helping him with a problem to hear what they were saying. In truth she did not know why they acted the way that they did since they were supposed to be partners...friends.

"They'll work it out in some form or another." Ash responded as he tried to remain focused on his homework, but their arguing was a little distracting. The conversation down below hit a steep fall in communication.

"Without me you couldn't Digivolve. Without me this team would be nothing." Marcus called out which seemed to have struck a chord in the reptile's soul.

"Grrr! That's it! I can't take this! I don't want you to be my boss." Agumon almost shouted to the human before him with hatred in his eyes.

"That's just fine by me. I don't want to be your boss either." The human fighter countered back to him with an equal amount of anger in his eyes. "We're through!" He added with a big dramatic arm swing.

'This is going to be fun.' Ash thought to himself since he could not wait to deal with this in the morning. Once morning started Ash couldn't help that it was cloudy out. 'Guess the weather is just as gloomy as Marcus and Agumon.' Ketchum thought before heading out the door, and over to work.

"So, that's why you're in there, Agumon." The plant Digimon pointed out once she had heard the whole story. The creature within growled at them, but kept his back facing them out of protest.

"This is the worst." Yoshino muttered under her breath as she had to stand and try to make sense of this non sensible argument.

"They're acting like kids." Lalamon pointed out after hearing a noise coming from the human that was also responsible for all of this.

"I'm surprised." The egg-head said aloud as he was hard at work on a different matter all together.

"Yeah, I know. I mean can you believe Agumon." Damon stated as he believed that the genius was referring to the Digimon in question.

"I mean you. You're being immature even for you." He clarified of who he was talking about and why. This angered the already angered teen.

"Y-you're immature." Marcus replied after getting off of his relaxed form of his feet on one of the consoles to sitting upright in the chair, and facing the man responsible for his anger.

"HA! He's right, boss." The yellow scaled one called out through his portable home.

"Quiet! I already told you that I am done with you." The fist warrior called out as he turned his attention to the Digimon that has made him angered through the day.

"Oh, yeah. Let's see you defeat a Digimon without me." Agumon pointed out once Yoshi turned his screen to face the man he was having a disagreement with. Such a statement angered the already angered one even more.

"Ha! It'll probably be easier without you just you wait and see." Marcus informed the other before storming off in a huff. The others watched him leave except for Ash who was reading a mythology book.

"I'll follow him to make sure he doesn't do anything too reckless. Renamon, mind staying here to make sure that Agumon doesn't do anything stupid." Ash instructed to her as he bookmarked his spot, placed the book on the console, and waited for an answer.

"Of course." She said back and watched as he nodded to her, and then walked off. The others were still not sure how to handle this problem of uncooperative soldiers.

Hm! I don't need anyone looking out for me. I can handle any situation with out the two of them and Renamon." Agumon said aloud which all of them heard him, but decided to pretend that he didn't say anything. Out in town there was a intersection that was having difficulties of sorts.

"Get this traffic moving. I got a load to deliver. Come on, if the light's not working. Ignore the useless thing." A delivery man ordered to his fellow motorists before honking his horn in anger. Above one of the intersections lights a Digi-Gate opened up and a new challenger was waiting on the other side.

"So many toys to play with." The new challenger said to himself with a mischievous chuckle at the end. This action went unnoticed by the Earth's defense force and the two on the field. At best the two on the field were sitting on an outdoor bench.

"Humph! Now I have some peace and quiet now that Agumon's not around. Soon he'll see. I don't need him around." Marcus stated once he had gotten out of his work clothes, back into street clothes, and was relaxing near a street. Back at the base Megumi and Miki were trying to coax the disagreeable dino out of the device.

"Come on, Agumon. Cheer up." Miki said to the Digivice that Yoshino put on the Commander's desk.

"No." He barked back at her. Neither of them were ready to give up on him.

"Look what we've got for you. Your favorite – a cheeseburger wrapped in another cheeseburger with a cheeseburger for dessert." Megumi informed and showed him the heart attack ready to happen, but another voice stopped her.

"Leave him be. My brother will come out when or if he is ready." Renamon informed them as she was having a simple sushi meal in one of the corners. Hearing that and knowing that the yellow furred one had a point the Miki set the device back down and headed off, but not before informing him on one thing.

"All right, but we'll be having hot tea and fortune cookies without you." The long haired one stated before heading to her station where the items in question were waiting for her.

"Do you think those two will ever be partners again?" The pink vested one questioned out loud since this thought was going on ever since the two stormed into work, and this squabble didn't seem to be stopping.

"I have more important things to do than to second guess those two." Thomas informed her since there was that matter of his little sister and her...condition.

"But this can't continue. It's bad for the whole squad." The female of the field team countered and knew that they count on the two of them to be the brawn of their little group, and without him – stronger Digimon will have an easier time taking them out.

"They need each other, but if they can't see that then there is no place for them here." Sampson informed the group which got him even more down in the dumps since he knew what will happen if he and Marcus don't make peace soon – he will be forced to go home.

'I wonder how Ash is doing on his part?' Renamon thought to herself as she quietly listened to what the Commander had to say about all of this. Ash on the other hand was watching Marcus work his frustration out on a batting cage.

'I can't believe him! He's the one that wanted me to be his boss in the first place. Then he gets upset when I act like a boss.' Marcus thought before swinging at another ball only to lose his balance and fall over since he put too much power into his swing.

"You alright?" Ash questioned after getting into the batting cage and kneeling next to him.

"This day keeps getting better and better." The warrior responded before seeing Ash offering him a hand which he reluctantly took. Once he was back on his feet Ketchum figured another change of scenery will do him some good.

"Come on, let's grab a bight. My treat." The raven haired youth offered as he thumbed over to the doorway they came from. With nothing else to say the two left to get some air and a bite. Back at their base the Digimon were still trying to find the logic in the lizard's plan.

"Listen. What you are doing doesn't make any sense Agumon." The blue dog of the group stated as he sat in front of the commander's desk – sipping some tea.

"Yeah, you said you hated being in you digivice because it is cramped and lonely." The pink and green plant informed her friend in the orange and white device. Hoping that using his own words would help knock some sense back into him.

"Just drop it, you guys. You don't understand." The lizard said back to them since he still wanted to stew in his angry mood just a little while longer. Renamon heard all of this as she stood near one of the doors and decided to speak her mind on this matter.

"The only reason your doing this is because you didn't like the conversation you and Marcus had at the table when you get greedy and had the last fried egg." The yellow furred warrior pointed out, and truthfully he knew that she was right, but he was still too stubborn to admit it.

"Just leave me alone." He groaned out to the others since he was getting tired of all of their noise. This conversation was getting on the boxing Digimon's nerves as well.

"Arguing with your superior and hiding out in your digivice. None of this makes any sense to me." Gaomon stated as he continued to drink his beverage, and this got the plant class' attention.

"You and Thomas don't argue? Yoshi and I do all the time." Lalamon informed the dogs before her. This peaked both of their interest causing the eyes of these combat specialists to look right at her.

"So, why do the two of you argue so often?" Renamon questioned since she thought that the first two to this organization would have more of a balance with their Digimon.

"Even friends can annoy each other. Yoshi's great, but she's bossy and messy." The plant informed them which the partner heard her.

'Nothing too bad, so I'm in the clear.' The human in the pink jacket thought before hearing the next part.

"And you two should see what she does with her toenail clippings." Lalamon informed them, but before she could explain herself the young lady in question sped over and grabbed her partner with both hands.

"Stop right there! No one wants to hear the boring details of my life." She ordered while dragging her partner away from the others.

"Sorry, Yoshi." The seed stated back to her human friend and was treating this as just punishment for almost spilling the beans on that little secret. The two others looked to one another and shrugged: deciding to forget the toenail thing was ever brought up in the first place. As for Ash and Marcus – they were still walking down the stairs of this sports center building.

'Great. Civilians. I'll just be waiting on the landing.' Ash thought since he knew with the way Marcus was hitting them will be his first response.

"See my home-run in the last game? Man, I am awesome." A man in a black suit shouted out as he went passed them, but bumped into Marcus' right shoulder. "Hey, kid!" The man shouted out at the red jacked one who cast an annoyed look at the human that rubbed his shoulder.

"Yeah?" He questioned back while his friend continued down to the landing, and waited. The black outfitted man didn't care for the one in the hat. His hate was focused on the one that bumped into him, and he recalled the face.

"Oh, Marcus." He stated in alarm.

"Hey, Boomer." The fist first freedom fighter answered back. "Sorry, I can't really talk right now. I'll see ya." He added to his first comment and proceeded to walk down the stairs which caught Ketchum off guard.

'Didn't see that coming. Could have sworn there was going to be a fight.' The passive one thought and the two of them went down the stairs together.

"Hey, wait!" Boomer called out as he and his followers followed them outside, and then surrounded them.

"So much for no fighting on humans." Ash muttered to his 'brother' while seeing that they effortlessly had them surrounded.

"Take a load off. I have some anger to burn off." Marcus commented back to his 'brother' while feeling Boomer walk up behind them. Ketchum nodded, walked past them, and then sat on the curb just outside of the parking lot. "You don't want to start a fight with me today." He warned the group surrounding him.

"Just because it's five against one. Ha, maybe you should have let Ash fight with you. In any case we're calling the shots this time around." Boomer explained to the warrior in front of him.

"Is that what you think?" Marcus questioned back which got on the other guy's bad side.

"Back off, Boomer, before I teach you bullies a lesson." Marcus threatened with a glare in his eyes.

"I don't think so. Get him, boys!" Boomer shouted out while pointing at Marcus, and with that a fight began with Ash hoping this will help his friend think a bit clearer. Back at the base the others were still trying to talk to Agumon to get over it.

"Why don't you come out of the digivice so that you and I can discuss this with our fists?" Renamon offered to him since she thought of a battle with a strong opponent would get him out, but that motion failed.

"No way! Not until boss apologizes." The lizard shouted back to the fellow yellow creature.

"Then, you'll be in there for a long time because he is just as stubborn as you are." She replied back before walking away to have some more tea.

'You really hurt my feelings, boss.' The Rookie in the machine thought as he recalled their conversation at the dinner table. Back in the parking lot Marcus just got down with his workout, and was leaving.

"Feel better?" The calm one questioned since he wondered if that mellowed him out a bit.

"No." He replied back before he realized something. "Why are you even here? I don't need anyone." He questioned and stated to the other one.

"You may prefer to fight alone, but everyone needs to have at least one friend by their side." Ash replied back, and it made Daman wish Ash wasn't such a goody two-shoes all of the time; the part that wasn't that mad still appreciated the company.

"Well, well my angry young friend: why so troubled?" A voice questioned causing both to look around until they saw a familiar face looking back at them.

"You are the same man that gave us our digivices. Thanks for that by the way." Ash stated to the elder sitting at a small station.

"Yeah, he did do that, but I'm wondering what he is doing here?" The fighter of the two questioned before looking at the aged man, and was waiting for an answer.

"Just what it looks like: Fortune Telling." The old man said back to the two with a heart felt chuckle. "You're looking for something, aren't you?" He questioned with a magnifying glass to his own eye while looking solely at Marcus.

"I don't know what your talking about, man." The hero replied back to him as he looked away from his 'brother' and the elder at the small table. The teen did this because he did not wish to show to either of them that he was right.

'Denial, old friend.' Ash thought while glancing at the older Damon sibling.

"It's a shame. The things you need most are never where you can find them." The glasses wearing elder informed and that caught his interest. "The things you truly need appear when your not looking for them. So, look for what's new in your life, and figure out why you might need it, and if you can't figure it out then it just means that you didn't really need it in the first place." He elaborated to the two, but his follow-up statement seemed to have rubbed Marcus the wrong way.

"Tch. You talk too much." The brown haired one commented before walking off as he still carried around his bad attitude.

"Thank you again for the digivice, mister. With it I have been able to really connect with my new friend." Ash said with a broad smile before adding, "See ya." The raven haired hero then followed Marcus to make sure nothing bad happened to him.

"Well, will he figure it out, or won't he?" The elder questioned to himself and performed a fortune telling ritual to answer himself. On another sidewalk was one of the thugs that Marcus wailed on, leaning on a signal pole – waiting for the walk sign to appear.

"What luck. I can't believe I lost to Marcus again, but next time he's mine for sure...maybe Ash too." The thug muttered to himself. Unknown to him a golden ring appeared over the traffic light, and the device in question started to crackle with electricity. "Lousy stop light. Change already. Come on! Come on!" He shouted in irritation with his hand resting on top of the button.

"More toys to play with." A voice from the inside of the hole in the sky shouted out and electrocuted the pole the man was using for support.

"What's that?!" The guy shouted out in alarm as he saw the button short out with dangerous levels of electricity. The owner of the voice finally appeared on the Earthly plane on top of the traffic light.

"And there's more – right there." The small red and blue creature shouted out and used electricity on a few more poles causing all of the lights to turn green and all of the cars to crash into one another.

"Sounds like trouble. Come on!" Ash shouted to Marcus as he heard the sound of things crashing, and out instinct he had to investigate. The fighter of the duo silently followed, but thought little of it since a crash was bound to happen in a city. Back at the base their alarms sounded of another attack in progress.

"A Digimon has been spotted in Sector B-4." The long haired desk jockey informed to the others while paying close attention to her monitors. The news did not go over very well with the older man behind the desk or his Digimon partner.

"Of all the days." The small white and gold Digimon muttered out since he knew they might be a little out powered with one of their bigger guns having a disagreement.

"Where's Marcus and Ash?" Sampson questioned knowing that even without their beasts those two would be the closest to the creature of the day.

"I can't get a hold of Marcus, but Ash is tapping S.O.S on his com-link." Megumi informed.

'So, he knows something of the situation, but not all of it.' The glasses wearing Digimon handler thought to himself before seeing Yoshi to his left. "Alright then. It's up to you two. Head out now." He instructed to the two females beside him.

"Yes, sir." Yoshi and Lalamon responded back with a salute and headed to the car.

"Me too." The yellow scaled one shouted out from his device causing both Renamon and Kudamon to look down at the digivice in confusion.

"You?" The two of them asked with the white Digimon's comment sounding skeptical and Renamon's sounded of genuine curiosity.

"Oh!" The stubborn salamander shouted in realization that he was still angry with his human friend. "I'm staying in here until boss apologizes, so blame him if something goes wrong." Agumon informed them causing the two other Digimon to look at one another in confusion, and then went about their business.

'Okay. This is a little worse then a simple one on one crash.' Damon thought to himself once they got to the crash. Thankfully the duo overheard that no one seriously harmed in this incident.

"This was not normal." Ash thought knowing that the electric company checked this stuff in the strictest of fashion. It was then the two heard an evil chuckle from above, and saw a strange red and blue creature.

"A Digimon." The two muttered so no one could hear them. The Digital Defenders watched the creature in action and saw it leap onto another set of traffic lights: sending out electricity.

"It hit the lights." Ash informed even though he knew that the fists first member saw the exact same thing as he did.

"Hey you, stop right there!" The warrior shouted out as he gave chase with Ash right behind.

"Let's see what Dexter has to say." Ketchum questioned out loud to himself as he pulled out his device not knowing that Megumi was doing the same thing. Ash's device began to explain:

"Elecmon, A Mammal Digimon, Rookie Level.

It uses electricity to jam signals and disable electronics."

'Why does it feel an electric type would be my kind of partner.' Ash thought to himself while running after the creature to make sure that it didn't do any serious damage – damage that not even DATS could cover up. The pink jacketed one heard what her friend said and clicked the information together.

"Of course. The lights." Yoshi informed the others while driving calmly to the creature.

"Target is moving from sector C-4 to D-6." Miki informed the field agents to make sure that the stayed on target.

"Roger." She responded back, and was wondering if the other two were going to be there where Elecmon is.

'I can't believe that I'm missing out on all this fun since an electrical guy will be a big challenge for a fire guy like me.' Agumon thought to himself as he listened to all of the news around him. The target messed with another light causing a rather large truck to turn right at a little girl.

'I thought I could cross.' The little one thought as she saw the big machine coming right at her. With blinding speed a raven haired human grabbed the girl, and saved her from becoming an organic speed bump.

"Ash!" Marcus called out from the other side of the truck, and then saw that he and the little girl were okay. The hero and the rescued one looked at the crash before them. Seeing this and have reality catch up with her the little one began to cry.

"It's okay, young one. You're safe now." Ketchum informed the young lady with a smile which seemed to calm her down a bit. With the kid now calmer the passive one caught a glimpse of their target leaping away. "Marcus pursue that power pilferer." Ketchum ordered while pointing at their target

"On it." The warrior replied back and gave chase. Ketchum still felt that his 'brother' still needed some help so he looked around for a new idea.

"Ma`am, please watch over this kid. Help her get into contact with her parents, and let them know she's okay." Ash instructed to a young woman that was looking at the wrecked truck. The unknown woman nodded in response, and he was off to catch up with the brawler of the crew.

"He won't get away. Come on, Agumon." Marcus called out as he gave chase not realizing his mistake until the other human pointed it out to him.

"Uh, Marcus, I'm Ash." The raven haired youth commented as they jogged along side one another. The berserker scanned around, but could not see his partner. "And before you ask: no. I'm not calling upon Renamon until the both of you calm down." Ash informed which was not what the warrior wanted to hear.

"I'll just do it myself then." The elder brother commented and ran off with Ash right beside him. Along their run the two saw more and more crashes, and both were getting more and more angered by this Digimon. "I know that you want to stop the chase and help them, but if we don't stop Elecmon here and now things might get a lot worse." Marcus informed the compassionate one.

"You're right. I think he went down here. Come on." Ketchum informed and the two went down a vehicle free road.

"We will catch you." Marcus shouted out at their target even though a part of him knew that he wasn't even listening to him. A part of both of them were hoping that the rest of their team would be there, or at the very least tracking him.

"The target's levels are increasing: Becoming more powerful." The long haired computer expert informed through her headset and to the others around her. The reptile was now thinking of the citizens that creature is around and how much danger they are in.

'Because I can't swallow my pride and apologize first.' Agumon thought as he berated himself for being so childish over a fried egg. "I should be out there." He muttered out loud and knew that the others were too preoccupied with the fight to hear him.

"Wait. The target has stopped by the old broadcast tower." The blonde young one announced to the others. The two senior members had a gut feeling what this lead up to, but decided not to tell the two around them.

"You know what that means. This is bad news." The 'scarf' Digimon informed his partner who nodded as an answer.

"I can see the tower. We'll be there shortly." Yoshi informed them since the holo-monitor that showed her driving was still active.

"We can't allow the target to do any more damage. Secure him at once." Sampson instructed to her even though he knew that she knew that such a comment should be obvious for their line of work.

"Yes, sir. What?! Ash? Marcus?" The pink jacketed one stated and then questioned as she saw her two friends in protecting lives just up ahead. The vixen only ruffled her fur once she heard that her partner was close to danger without her to protect him, but tried to remain cool about it.

"Oh no!" Agumon shouted out since he did not wish for his boss to get attacked by this electrical enemy. The two arrived at the tower and hoped the steel fence, but could no longer see it.

"Where did that thing go?" The fighter questioned as he looked at the tower of steel itself. At that time Ketchum heard a vehicle come over and saw that it was the DATS vehicle, and knew that they were going to get chewed out for acting without backup.

"Marcus, Ash, where have you two been? Why didn't you do what Ash did and contact us, Marcus?" Yoshi questioned to the two as she was getting out of the car. Both teens in question turned to face her.

"We've been busy doing our job. That Digimon is hiding somewhere." Marcus said back to her with his voice obviously having an edge to it. By this time Thomas also got out of the car from the other door, and decided to remind the two of a minor fact.

"That's exactly why we're here." The blonde one pointed out before walking closer to his fellow DATS members. The female human of the field team knew that she had to break the news to the two before her.

"Without a partner – you two are useless, so just stay out of the way, guys." Yoshi instructed the both of them. Ash nodded in acceptance, but his friend wasn't so casual about this request.

"I can handle this without Agumon. Watch." Marcus said back to them and took off. The two were about to bellow another order, but Ash raised his hand to stop them.

"Stay cool. I'll get him back." The raven haired one informed them and headed off. The walk was short lived as a bright light could be seen near the top of the metal tower.

"Ha! I found you!" The brown haired hero shouted out at their target who dropped off of the tower, and shot of an electrical warning shot. The attack caused them to back away, and get a good look at their opponent, but something felt off about him this time.

"Oh no!" Ash shouted in alarm as he felt something coming from the lightning based baddie, and his fellow yellow partnered pat felt it as well.

"He's digivolving." Marcus shouted out and they all watched as the small electrical class creature changed into a black and gray wolf like creature. "It's the electricity. That's where he got the energy to digivolve." Marcus pointed out to the others.

"Alright. Let's do this." Yoshi informed the rest of her main party since she knew that they had to strike before he could get used to his new form, but just like before Ash pulled out his Dexter for guidance:

"Garurumon, A Champion Level Digimon, and the possible digivolved form of elven Digimon. Garurumon's thick fur acts as a natural shield. One of most intelligent Champion Levels and with shrewd battle tactics makes him a difficult opponent for most Digimon." The machine informed them which surprised Ash.

"Most?" The one holding Dexter muttered out loud before pressing a button for a better explanation.

"It has been recorded that any variant of Greymon can fight Garurumon to a stand-still." The machine stated to the others which is what Kudamon said back at the base. Hearing that piece of news only made the warrior more determined to fight him alone.

"Fightin` time." The brawler shouted to the four-legged enemy before him. The other two could tell that the civilians before them were about to engage, so they had to stop them.

"Forget it, Marcus. It's too dangerous without a Digimon." The brainiac informed the fists first fighter before activating his power. "DNA...Charge!" Thomas shouted out as he snapped his fingers which allowed blue energy to cover his hand and he put that power to his digivice.

"Gaomon digivolve to..." The blue boxer shouted out before feeling his partner's power flow through him. "Gaogamon!" The now four-legged wind attribute shouted out as he stood ready to face a fellow fido.

"DNA...Charge!" Yoshi shouted out as she called up her pink energy before putting it into her digivice and sent it to her plant pal.

"Lalamon digivolve to..." The seed-like creature shouted out before feeling the power from her partner flow into her. "Sunflowmon!" The fully bloomed battler shouted out while just hovering over the ground.

"Clear out, you two." Gaogamon instructed to the two before them since he knew what Renamon would do to him if anything happened to Ash.

"Leave this battle to us." Sunflowmon pointed out since she didn't want them to get hurt.

'Now that I'm a Champion these two are toast.' Garurumon thought to himself as he let out a snarl. The three were about to go to blows as soon as the raven haired and browned haired humans got out of the way.

"Stop!" Marcus shouted out as he raced over and stood before the blue Digimon and added, "That's as far as you go. This is my fight. I don't need anyone's help to defeat him." The teen's thoughts of his argument with Agumon returning to the surface and reminding him of why he said such a thing.

"Are you kidding me?! You'll be toast!" The female human shouted out in alarm since she did not wish to believe that her fellow worker would be this suicidal.

"An ultimate fighter never quits. Let's go you overgrown puppy!" Marcus informed her before shouting at the target and raced toward him. The two Champions on the side of good looked at one another: confused as to what to do now.

"Don't just stand there. Stop him." The red haired girl shouted out to the two since their dog could hold them down with his front paws and Sunflowmon could grab them with her hands.

"Right." The four-legged one shouted out, but as soon as he started to run the enemy wolf went on the attack: tackling Gaogamon with minimal effort to the ground, and dealing with the plant with the furry fins on his shoulders.

"Hey! You can't get rid of me that easily!" Damon shouted out as he raced over to the enemy and grabbed onto his back.

"Well, I did say that I would get him back." Ketchum muttered to himself before climbing on as well. Unlike their fight with the mole who didn't try anything until after they were spotted Garurumon instantly tried to buck the humans off.

"Oh no!" Megumi shouted out as she saw her two human friends on the creature's back.

"From my readings both Gaogamon and Sunflowmon can still fight." Miki informed the others of the good news of the fight on the monitors.

"But they can't. Not while Marcus and Ash or on his back." The blonde woman countered which the other woman knew this to be true.

"Do either of them really believe they can beat a Digimon on their own." Kudamon questioned to his partner as they watched the fight on the holo-monitors. Neither of them wished to look at the vixen since she was really getting tense of just watching the fight instead of being there – protecting Ash.

"What's the matter, puppy-dog? Can't...get...rid...of us?" Marcus shouted out while trying to hold on. Since neither of them were getting off the wolf changed his battle tactics: raced off of the steel tower, and leaped away from the others.

"Marcus! Ash!" Yoshi shouted out in alarm as she watched the beast flee.

"Garurumon is on the move, and Marcus along with Ash are on his back." The long haired one informed to the others as she watched a dot zip through town.

"Hmm. Inform Yoshino and Thomas right away!" Sampson ordered to the others since he wished for them to deal with this right away.

"Yes, sir. Yoshi, respond!" The purple haired girl stated and shouted as she tried to get into contact with the car.

"I'm here." The pink vested one shouted back as the two recalled their teammates to the Digivice and went back to the car. At that moment Renamon saw a familiar face enter the base, and he seemed rather calm about what is happening at the moment.

"The target is heading to Sector B-17. Move out immediately." The desk girl called out the information to the people in the field.

"Roger." The driver informed back as she burned rubber to the sector explained. At that time the face had reached the lone Digivice causing the creature inside to see him.

"The old man?" Agumon questioned in alarm since he was not expecting the elder to be at the base at all. At that moment the man in question picked up the device and seemed to be smiling about something. He then heard what Miki was saying, looked to Renamon, and walked out.

"Garurumon's speed is increasing. Yoshi and Thomas may not be able to catch up." The long haired one informed as she kept track of just how fast the creature was going.

"That means Ash and Marcus are on their own. Can they really handle this alone?" The short haired girl questioned and prayed that they could since she did not wish to think of the alternative. Back in the car the two other field workers were trying to keep up with the four-legged beast.

"Garurumon is not slowing down." Thomas informed as he looked at his small laptop to see what the guys at the base were seeing. As they drove Yoshino saw the tragady in this plan right off the bat.

"That's just great. Chasing something we may not be able to catch to save someone who doesn't want to be saved. Those two must be completely terrified." The pink jacketed one stated as she continued to drive along. On the canine's back were the two in question, but they both seemed to be enjoying themselves as furry felon fled on foot.

"You'll never be able to shake us off." Marcus informed their ride, but soon added to his first comment, "Even though my arms are starting to get tired." Ash, who often trained with Renamon, could deal with tired arms, but he knew that they still had to deal with this threat – fast.

They are approaching the end of the line. Literally. The railroad is still under construction." The blonde desk warrior informed them as she showed the spot they were heading for.

"Let go once we get to that station. Hopefully we can take him there." Ash instructed to his friend, and with that the two did just that with Garurumon turning back to face them.

"Woof!" Marcus called out as his answer to the wolf's snarl at them. With that the two ran forward, leaped over a swipe of the claw, and grave him a hard kick: Marcus' right leg and Ash's left. To finish their attack both slammed one of their fists: Marcus' right and Ash's left into their opponent's chest. "Agumon, digivolve now!" The fighter shouted out, but remembered instantly that the reptile in question was not here.

'He's starting to get it.' Ketchum thought once the two got some distance from the beast. The 'brother' to Damon could see the realization on Marcus' face that he needed his partner. "Look out!" Ash shouted out as he got to the warrior's right side and took most of the blow for him before the bot ht of the were slammed into a wall.

"Not fun. Man, maybe we're not strong enough to defeat this guy. Maybe it really does take a Digimon to defeat a Digimon." Marcus muttered as the two of them were staggering to their feet. "But still...I'm not going to give up even if this turns out to be my last stand." He said with confidence before dodging a claw strike from the monster of the day.

"Starting to get it?" Ash questioned to him before seeing the guy was through trying to kill them with paws, and decided to simply eat them. Out of alarm and instinct the both of them put their feet to the wall section behind them and held the teeth with their hands: Marcus – the upper mouth, and Ash – the under mouth.

"What was I thinking? I couldn't have defeated that guy by myself, and I can't beat Garurumon either. I need Agumon, and now I'll never be able to tell him I'm sorry." Marcus stated loudly as he recalled their fight with Tortomon, and how helpful his scaly chum was in that fight.

'He really is starting to get it.' Ketchum thought as he was still making sure that he didn't end up dog food for this creature. As they continued to struggle not only was the charge returning to their fists, but the memory of after they defeated the turtle came back to Marcus.

"It get it! I need you, Agumon! What makes us strong isn't you or me – it's both of us working as a team. AGUMON!" Marcus stated as he realized the importance of the Digital Monster's friendship while yelling his partner's name more in desperation rather than anything else. At that moment diamonds and fireballs came upon the enemy causing him to back off for a while.

"Hey, boss. Sorry, I'm late!" The yellow scaled one stated as he rushed over to stand before his partner which surprised the human greatly. As they were getting to know each other again Renamon got Ash back on his feet.

"Looks like they finally mended things up." Ash stated once standing on his feet again. He then heard Marcus shout out his catchphrase and Ketchum knew it was time to use the charge.

"DNA...Charge!" Marcus called out as he used the power from his punch into his Digivice and his reptile felt the power bonus.

"Agumon digivolve to..." The Rookie shouted out before feeling the power flow into him, and he used it for his upgrade. "GeoGreymon!" The three horned creature shouted out

"DNA...Charge!" Ash shouted out as he put his energy into his Digivice.

"Renamon digivolve to..." She shouted out as she felt the human's energy flow into her causing the vixen's body to change as well. "NeoKyubimon!" She shouted out as a yellow furred four-legged warrior stood there ready for battle.

"You know what to do." Ash instructed, and the two decided to go with the same strategy as before, but with a slight twist.

"Fox-Tail Inferno!" The multi tailed individual shouted out as she had her fireballs not only surround the enemy, but GeoGreymon as well.

"We need to keep this fight contained, but unlike last time I believe that the two of you should have this one." Ash informed, and Damon nodded in appreciation. Once they were in place the fireballs grew to make sure neither could leave the battlefield.

'This might be a bit too close for Horn Impulse, but just enough for a fire attack.' The Champion Level on the side of good thought as he called up flames to his mouth. Garurumon realized that he couldn't use melee attacks either, so he readied his own flame attack. "Mega Flame!" GeoGreymon shouted out before attacking.

"Fox Fire!" The black furred one shouted out as he launched his blue flame at the enemy. Instead of canceling each other out the attacks began to have a tug-of-war contest. This contest was causing both of them to come dangerously close to the flame barrier.

"Never surrender, GeoGreymon! You have my DNA Charge and that will carry you through anything. Remember, you'll never loose as long as we fight together." Marcus shouted out which gave the dinosaur the strength to dig deeper, and in the end his stream won. "All right." Damon cried out once the battle was won in their favor.

"A job well done, you two." Ash congratulated the both of them with a smile on his face, and at that time the two Champions de-powered to Rookie form.

"Looks like Marcus finally figured it out. Now they both know what they really need." The elder commented as he wiped the sweat from the top of his balding head as he stood outside of the station. With his part over the old man walked away.

"You did it, Agumon." The human of the brawlic duo stated with an outstretched hand.

"We did." The lizard corrected him as he took the outstretched hand.

"As long as the two of us work together no Digimon can stand against us." The human stated back to his Digital Monster and meant every word.

"Yeah, we're still the ultimate team, boss." Agumon pointed back to him and this caused the human to recall their earlier argument and regret was evident on his face.

"Oh! Listen, I'm really sorry, and I didn't mean what I said before." Marcus apologized to his scaly friend, and his tone spoke truly.

"Mm-Mmm. No, I should be apologizing to you." The fire elemental responded back.

"Hey, wait a second. How did you two get her, and who brought you?" The human questioned out of curiosity as he held out his Digivice to make sure that he didn't imagine using it.

"Well, Renamon drove us here on her cycle, but the old man was holding the Digivice in fact he's..." Agumon informed him but stalled while looking around and added, "Hey, where is he? I could have sworn that he came in with us." The older human in question was no where to be seen. This raised a flag to both humans since the elder that gave them their Digivices could walk in and out of their base as he pleased.

"You four! You made another mess." Yoshi shouted once getting in the station and shined a flashlight on the saviors of the day.

"Oh man, I'd rather face another Digimon then deal with Yoshi. Run!" Marcus shouted out before he ran off with his partner right beside him.

"Get back here, and clean this scorch circle on the railroad tracks. You four are in big trouble." The pink jacketed girl shouted out. Once they were done running the guys did their best to repair the damage, and the returned to base with the Digi-Egg in hand.

"Digimon dealt with. Train station mostly repaired, and no deaths in all of those care accidents. I call this mission over." Ash said to the others once they sent the egg back home. With nothing else to do the field agents returned home for some well deserved shut-eye.


	7. Chapter 7

Ash Ketchum is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak and Cartoon Network

Digimon, characters and locations, is owned by Toei Animation

Chapter 7

Unexpected birthday blast

It felt like a normal day as the two woke up, and even as they headed for their place of business – DATS, nothing felt out of the ordinary. All of that changed when he opened the door and the two he disliked the most were in front of him: standing at attention. "Welcome back to DATS, sir." The two said in unison.

"We've been waiting for you." Marcus stated by himself and his voice seemed sincere.

"With open arms, sir." The reptile known as Agumon added soon after and also sounded sincere. It was then that the person they were speaking to: Thomas knew something was up and was a little freaked out of how they were acting.

'So, this is what Marcus and Agumon would be like if they acted more like Ash.' Renamon thought as she, like Yoshi and Lalamon looked at the scene at the door before adding, 'It does not work for them at all.' The vixen turned to her partner who was simply typing on one of the consoles: minding his own business.

"So, sir, you must be pretty tired have some tea while it's still warm." The brawler informed after his Digimon partner went to get the object in question: with the turtle Digimon's permission.

"Fresh brewed." The lizard added as he held up the beverage to the blonde they were trying to impress. Back at one of the consoles the raven haired youth could only feel bad for his 'brother'.

'This has got to be bruising his warrior pride.' Ketchum thought as he tried to stay straight faced since this was still sort of funny.

"Um...thank you." The brainiac responded while feeling a little nerved by this sudden show of kindness since this was the guy that had a few wisecracks lined up for him. "I just have one small question: what's the catch, Marcus?" The blonde one questioned since he wished to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

"You don't have to do any of the catching. We're doing all of the throwing." Agumon responded back in his usual clueless tone. The blue furred boxer was about to call him out on this until the reptile got a stern tail smack in the back of the head by Renamon.

"That isn't what he meant." She said in a dead serious tone that put a little chill in the air. The vixen was not happy about this because she wanted Marcus to get straight to the point of this farce.

"Agumon, what I mean by catch is..." Thomas explained before leaning in close to the human of the duo, and added, "Why are you being so nice to me Marcus because you never do anything without an ulterior motive." The warrior knew that he had been discovered, but he still wanted to try and save face.

"Oh, come on. You think too much, Tommy-Buddy." The brown haired youth responded, and that got under the brains of the group nerves.

"Thom-as." Norstein corrected his co-worker on what his name was since he didn't like that version of his name at all. Gaomon looked at the situation around him and decided to voice his opinion on the matter.

"I'd be careful if I were you, sir. Something sure seems fishy around here." The Rookie with blue fur commented since this seemed sketchy and he didn't know if this was just a look-alike of their comrade or still the genuine article.

"It's my cologne." Marcus responded back before thinking to himself, 'Cologne, really, that's the best dodge I could come up with.' It was at that time that the reptile gave up their attempted cover.

"Amazing! He figured it out just by the smell." As soon as the flame elemental said that the human of the duo grabbed his mouth and forced him back.

"Quiet!" Marcus shouted out as loud as he could since he still believed that he could fool him, but it was clear that what little believability he thought he had was gone now.

"There's no point denying it. Even a little kid could tell your up to something no good. Just get to it." Thomas questioned with his arms crossed showing that he was tired of this game and he wanted his fellow savior of man kind to just get to what he is trying to say.

"The thing is..." The fighter started to speak before hearing someone clear their throat. After a quick scan he saw that it was Ash, still sitting at his station.

"Let Agumon breath and then tell him what's up." The raven haired one offered while pointing to the Digimon in question. Damon looked and saw that his hands were still effectively covering his friend's nose holes and mouth, so he did just that, and went back to what he wanted to say.

"Something interesting happened at school today." The fighter began his tale of what happened earlier on this day.

"Final Chance: make up tests tomorrow – room 107." Past Marcus read a paper on a bulletin board before adding, "Make up test, and of all the days it has to be tomorrow when I can't be here." Unknown to him was the fact that one of his teachers was looming behind him – hearing the whole thing.

"You'll be in deep trouble if you ditch class tomorrow, Damon." The teacher spoke causing the student that was having an external monolog to jump in alarm.

"Huh?! But tomorrow's not good. You see sir, I've got a..." The older Marcus began to explain himself while back-peddling, and was cut off by the teacher he was speaking with.

"Very funny, Marcus. What a comedian. Pretending to miss my exam." The teacher stated before laughing a bit, and that is when the story ended and cut to the present Marcus.

"And so, that's how it all happened." The present orange member of DATS explained to the man he is wanting help from. The man in question was sipping on the tea that was offered to him, and actually liked it even though he did not say that part out loud.

"Well, I can't help." He said calmly with a smile on his face which got the beggar a little angry.

"But I haven't asked anything yet." The warrior commented back with his tone showing how annoyed and angered he was that he already shot him down despite not knowing what the request was.

"I know that I have somewhat of a scholarly reputation, Marcus, but even I can't do the impossible, and teach you how to study." The blonde brainiac commented back believing that he was being asked to be the fighter's tutor.

"How true." Yoshi commented back as she was listening in on the whole conversation quietly.

"He's good, but not that good." The plant based partner replied as she floated by her partner's side. The two on the other side of the room were listening in and had a small back and forth with each other.

"Those four completely missed the point of that tale." Ash muttered to his partner while glancing over at his 'brother's' situation.

"Indeed, but I do not think that they put either of you two on a high regard since the four of us are fairly new to this whole thing." Renamon stated back to him, and Ash had to admit that his yellow furred wonder did have a good point. The two went to being quiet and listened to how he dealt with that set-up.

"This isn't about studying." Marcus said to the four surrounding him since he was doing that on his own, and knew that he could pass the test better this time, but there was a bigger situation that he had to deal with first.

"Then what is it about?" Thomas questioned since if this request isn't about exploiting his intellect than what was his plan this time.

"I have something big to ask you. A favor..." The bigger brother started to speak, but genuinely felt nervous about this since a part of him believed that he was going to turn him down automatically.

"Alright, let's hear it." Thomas stated back with his tone clearly showing off how annoyed he was getting for this whole thing.

"Okay. Well, tomorrow is Kristy's Birthday, and..." The older of the two siblings started to explain himself, but was cut off.

"Kristy, your little sister, right?" The tactical one of the group questioned as he recalled seeing her while sitting in his limo not too long ago.

"Yeah! Yeah! Good memory." The yellow scaled creature cheered him for his memory skills.

"Well, I just need...a babysitter for her. Just until my make-up exam is over." He finished his explanation and seemed to have a pleading look in his eyes. The smart one could tell that the warrior really meant this request.

'Hopefully he goes for it.' Ash thought with hope as he eyed the man's facial expression.

"That's simple enough. Do you know any good babysitters?" Thomas stated and questioned to his fellow DATS member to his right.

"I would be happy to do it." She stated politely to the boys before her.

"But she comes at a pretty price." The Rookie class plant added to her partner's comment which she did hear.

"Hey, don't say something like that." The human instructed her teammate of not putting her in a greedy kind of light.

"So, you're going to do it for free?" Lalamon questioned and wanted to really know if her partner was going to do this out of the kindness of her heart.

"Uh...I didn't say that." The red haired young woman responded back, and before the conversation could go any deeper Marcus' voice cut in.

"It can't be Yoshi." He stated calmly which caught the both of them off. He then continued with, "I need someone who could act like a big brother." This point seemed as though he really did need Thomas for it until Gaomon spoke up.

"Then, why not use the 'brother' in your house already?" The blue furred canine questioned while pointing at the man in question.

"He and Renamon are going to be doing some studying for the next test, so they can't do it." Marcus explained why he didn't go for Ash instead of Thomas. "I need you Thomas. Could you pretend to be a member of my family tomorrow?" The fighter questioned with his pleading eyes even more in the focus.

'Family.' The young one in question thought to himself before adding, "We'll see." With the rest of the day being surprisingly slow the teams went home with Thomas giving Marcus, Ash, Renamon, and Agumon a lift home.

"Hey, you coming or what?" Ash shouted out once the four of them were out of his vehicle, and waving him to come over. Confused by this request he decided to see what this was all about.

"Stand by." He said to the driver before getting out of the car, and headed straight for them. "Why do I have to come to your house today? The birthday's not until tomorrow." The smart one questioned and pointed out to the others.

"Kristy can be tough, so we wanted her to approve you first." Agumon explained why they wanted him to come to the house.

"Tough? It's a good thing I haven't said yes to this assignment." Norstein commented to the others in an almost joking tone.

"She isn't that bad. Come on inside." Ash stated as he opened the door for his team.

"I'm home." Marcus shouted out as Ash brought up the rear, and closed the door behind him.

"Hi again." Kristy said to the return of Marcus' friend.

"I am Thomas H Norstein. Sorry for my rudeness the other day when we met by my car." Thomas said to the mother since he really did feel bad being that cold to a very caring family.

"Oh, no worries. So, tell me, are you, Marcus, and Ash good friends?" Sarah stated and then questioned since she was worried that there would be no friendship between the two that live with her and the people that they work with.

"Uh...yeah." He responded back to her while not bringing up the fact that he risked the safety of the four of them due to his pride not to long ago.

"Thomas said he'd be hanging out with you on your birthday tomorrow. He'll take my place until I get back. Isn't that great?" The elder of the two informed her and questioned this plan to her.

"Yeah! Alright! I'm so happy!" The younger of the two shouted out after a gasp of happiness since she could barely contain her excitement.

"No...I still..." The tactical one stuttered out, but his stuttering suddenly stopped when he looked at the one offering him tea.

"Son, it isn't a problem for you, is it?" Sarah questioned calmly while looking right at his eyes. It was at that moment that Thomas felt a familiar maternal vibe that he hasn't felt in quite some time.

"I swear." He said while rising out of his chair and standing straight up. "I, Thomas H Norstein, will put everything I have into making Kristy's Birthday the best one ever." He proclaimed for all to hear.

'Laying it on a little thick.' Ash and Marcus thought at the same time, and saw Thomas' face change from cool and collected to realized shock.

'Why did I just say that?' Thomas thought to himself after realizing what he had just said, but his focus was brought back to reality when he felt something hug him.

"Thank you so much!" The little sister shouted out with a very happy tone. "Hey, Thomas, do you have a funny friend,like Agumon, that hangs around with you or a cute one like Renamon?" Kristy questioned since she wanted to know if all of Marcus and Ash's new friends had strange friends as well.

"Funny or cute friend?" He questioned back to her while wondering what she was getting at, and then it hit him. "Oh, you mean my partner." He stated back to her just to be sure that they were on the same page.

"His Digimon is named Gaomon." The yellow reptile informed her since he understood what the two were talking about.

"Show me! Show me! Show me!" She shouted out while still hugging her stand-in brother.

'I wonder if you will be this excited to see him as well, little sister.' Thomas thought as he smiled at Kristy's energy. "Okay." He said aloud while reaching for his digivice and lifted it up. "Gaomon, realize!" He commanded, and as expected his partner materialized in the kitchen.

"Sir, yes sir." The blue canine called out as he was expecting a fight, but instead saw a little girl standing before him.

"He's so cute." Kristy shouted out after letting out a happy squeal.

"Nice to meet you." The boxing class Digimon stated back to her, and blushed for being called cute along with meeting someone this young in terms of humans.

"It's a talking dog." The little sister shouted out with excitement even though she already knows of a talking dog.

"She called you a dog!" The flame throwing Rookie shouted out with a laugh.

"Would a dog wear boxing gloves?" The fist fighting Digimon questioned as a veiled threat to his co-worker to zip the lip unless he wants to know what his fists taste like.

"Well, I better start making some Dinner if we plan to eat some time this century." Sarah pointed out as she got up off of her kitchen chair.

"Then we'll take our leave of you now." Norstein said back to her with a smile, and they were about to do so until the smallest of the room spoke.

"No! Stay and eat Dinner with us, Thomas." Kristy pleaded to him. Wishing for him to stay a bit longer.

"Thanks, but I still have some work to do back at the..." The blonde haired one said back to her, but was cut off by the mother.

"Nonsense. Don't be shy. Please, stay and eat with us." Sarah said to them while once again giving off those maternal vibes.

"Well, sure." He responded and with that they got ready for Dinner, but since the Damon's didn't have that many chairs and no table leafs Ash and Renamon volunteered to sit a simple square shaped card table.

"Here, Gaomon, open wide. Ah!" Kristy shouted out as she was trying to feed the new dog in the house. Unknown to her was the glare Renamon was giving off until she saw, through the corner of her eye, Ash offering her a piece of food.

"You seemed angry that Gaomon was getting all of the attention, so here." Ash offered to her, and she felt a blush creep onto her face just as Gaomon's blush never left his. She did like the offer, but rather than accepting it she took a piece of food from her plate and offered it to him.

"Only if you have this." She offered to him, and could clearly see a blush forming on his face.

"Okay." He muttered with a small stutter in his voice. As the two exchanged food they were unaware that the smart one was taking in his surroundings.

"Hey, Agumon, you took my share again." The human of the fighting duo called out once he saw that his supply of food was already gone.

"Not me, boss." Agumon said back while trying to play innocent with his mouth still full of food.

'Quite a lively dinner table, and sub-dinner table they have.' Thomas thought as he observed everyone around him, and that is when he spotted something on the far wall. A pair of pictures – one of a young Ash and his mom and dad along with a young Damon family in the other photo. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the one that was in his own little world.

"Thomas. Thomas!" Marcus shouted out since he wanted to have his friend join them back in this meal. "Anything wrong with the food?" He offered to his friend once he saw that his fellow world savior was back with them.

"If you want, I could make you something else." Sarah offered to the guest in a concerned tone since she did not want him to feel obligated to have this food if he didn't like it.

"That's not it at all." He said back to her before adding, "I'm just..." He stopped to see that everyone's eyes were trained on him. "You see: I've just grown accustomed to eating alone – that's all." He explained to them, and then felt the mood change from fun and happy to glum and very sad he decided to leave. "We have to be going now. Thank you for the meal. Let's go Gaomon." The smart one stated in a very melancholy tone as he slowly walked away from the table.

"Sir, yes sir." The canine Rookie stated as he was relieved to leave this girl that was making him feel awkward.

"Huh?" The group questioned aloud as they watched him leave them.

"Agumon, Marcus go with him. Try to see what's up. Renamon and I will help with the clean up." Ash stated to his fellow DATS workers who nodded and headed out to the limo.

"Hey, Thomas." The brawler quietly called out from the outside of the vehicle, and waited for the window to roll down.

"Don't worry, Marcus. I will keep my promise to your family tomorrow. I will be at Kristy's Birthday." Thomas stated with absolute certainty before driving away. This change from cautious to dedicated confused both of them.

"What happened to him? I wonder..." Marcus thought out loud before going back inside, and helped with the straightening up.

"Anything?" Ash questioned as he and Marcus got the dishes off of the main table.

"Nothing. Just said he'd be here for the party." Marcus answered back. Unknown to them Thomas was already working on a plan for the birthday girl.

"10:00 AM – Meet with Damon family.

12:00 PM – Have lunch at the hotel's top floor restaurant.

01:00 PM - After that stop for a birthday present at the hotel gift shop.

02:00 PM - Stroll through the Japanese garden

02:30 PM - And arrange for everyone to have afternoon tea together

03:00 PM – Horseback riding at the Equestria Club

06:00 PM – Take Marcus' family out to dinner at the best French restaurant in town"

Thomas read over the game plan he had for that little sister before adding, "It's perfect. The most well planned birthday ever. I'll call it: Kristy's magnificent Birthday Plan!" With that all planned out he decided to finally get some sleep since he wanted to be well rested so he could see the smile on her face when his plan went off without a hitch.

"Good morning, Ash." Renamon stated as the two were in the kitchen at 5:00 AM enjoying some Orange Juice, scrambled eggs, and toast.

"Good morning, Renamon." The raven haired youth said back to her with a smile on his face. As the two sat together they enjoyed this moment of peace and serenity.

"So, you probably want to tail him later today?" The yellow furred creature questioned to him since she already knew the answer.

"Yeah, I just want to keep her safe. So far the people that work at DATS seem to attract Digimon where ever we go, and I don't want Kristy to be caught in the middle of one of our battles." He explained to her before adding, "Besides, this gives me the best opportunity to use a new hologram feature I put into the belt" This got her interested in his plan.

"Can't wait to try it out." She responded, and not too long after that the others of the house came down for Breakfast. A few hours after that three of them were waiting outside while the other two remained indoors.

"He's late. And he's going to make me late for school." Marcus griped even though this day is for those that want to make up tests, and those that don't have the day off. 'Kinda wish Agumon knew a thing or two about school.' Damon thought since he often saw the fox helping out her partner with his homework, and at that time he heard a vehicle approaching. "Finally, here he comes." Marcus informed the others. "You're late, pal." He said to the car in a tone that did not mask his anger and aggravation at all.

'Trying to impress just a little too much.' Renamon, who was standing on the roof, thought as she saw Thomas standing outside of the limo in a pure white suit and a bouquet of flowers in hand.

"Happy Birthday, Kristy, and many happy returns." Thomas said while kneeling to the young one and gave her the bouquet of flowers.

"Oh, Thank you." She said as she happily accepted the flowers from him.

"I promise you that today will be the best birthday you've ever had, and you'll remember it for the rest of your life." Norstein informed her with absolute certainty in his voice.

"I can't wait, Thomas." The Birthday girl said with a smile.

"You're a very special person, Thomas. We leave ourselves in your capable hands." Sarah informed him, and she was sure that he would keep them both safe.

"I've planned the whole day." He said to the mother before her before placing his hand behind his back and cleared his throat. The chauffeur understood and grabbed the second bouquet of flowers from the limo. "By the way, Sarah. These are for you." He stated after feeling the package in hand and presented them to her. A bouquet that was even larger than her daughter's bouquet.

"What? You're so sweet, and it's not even my birthday." She said to him with the last part being in a joking tone.

"This is my thanks for dinner yesterday." Thomas informed her, and the son could almost feel where this was going.

"If you give me flowers – you're toast. Boy, when you do something. You do it." The older of the two siblings stated since he could not believe that his fellow worker was this thorough for a simple birthday party.

"I told you before: I am the master of the well-laid plan." The strategist said back and felt rather proud of that title.

"What a guy." The brown haired youth said in a very sarcastic tone.

"Marcus!" A voice shouted out causing the man in question to turn to the voice. "School. You're going to be late if you don't get a move on right now." Sarah informed her boy as she pointed to the watch on her left wrist.

"Oh, I gotta go." The fighter stated as he remembered why this was all going down in the first place. "Hey, thanks again, Thomas. I'm off to take that stupid make-up exam. I'm gonna ace it." He said to his fellow fighter and friend while offering his fist to him.

"That's the spirit." The white outfitted warrior replied back and returned the fist pump.

"See ya." The older brother stated as he walked off to school, and left his family in Thomas' trusting hands.

"Okay, Kristy, time to put your Birthday plan into action. First a trip to hotel's restaurant..." The planner informed her, but was cut off by the Birthday girl herself.

"I have other places I want to go." Kristy said to him with a smile on her face. "Please." She added and put on her cutest face that she could.

"Yeah. Sure. It's your birthday, so we can do whatever you want." Thomas said as he resigned himself to her cute face.

"Yay!" Kristy shouted out and began praising that today was her birthday while her stand-in brother had other thoughts running through him.

'My schedule is already in ruins. I didn't factor this into my calculations.' Thomas thought to himself before getting his focus back, and escorted them into his limo. Once they started to roll out Renamon disappeared from the roof, and reappeared in his room.

"They are on the move." The yellow vixen informed him as soon as she was visible.

"Then so are we." Ash said back to her before adding, "But first put on the belt. I added another setting into it." She took the object, put in on and another form stood there. It possessed red and silver shoes, blue jeans, blue and white shirt with a heart on it, purple wristbands, and her blonde hair being held back by a black and white scrunchie.

"This might be more useful than that biker look." The yellow furred one said to him as she looked at her more human form. With her new skin in play the two of them headed out, but not before locking the door for a bit of security.

"Let's follow by the rooftops." Ash suggested to her, and that is what they did. The human was grateful that their neck of the woods had building so close to each other as did the small section Kristy was taking them through.

"Make a right. Then hang a left at the second corner." Kristy instructed the driver as she watched over his shoulders to make sure that they were going where she was hoping to go. Behind her was her mother and Thomas. Sarah simply sat there: enjoying the drive, and knew that her friend would like it too if she were here. Thomas on the other hand was deep in thought as he looked at his hand held laptop.

'I've got to do something to make up the time we've lost.' The blonde haired genius thought to himself while staring at the screen. Sarah stopped thinking of her friend to notice that her stand-in son didn't seem to be enjoying himself.

"Something wrong, Thomas?" The brown haired mother questioned to the young man to her left. Her voice snapped him out of his deep thought, so he decided to address her concern.

"No. Nothing." He responded before his limo stopped all of a sudden. This caused those that here in the car to jostle a bit. "Hey, why'd you stop?" The young man stated in a level tone since he did not wish to offend his butler's driving skills.

"My deepest apologies, Master Thomas." The driver stated as he looked at the problem before him. A section of a fence along with two small stone obelisks stood in their path to the next road over.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Thomas questioned since, from his position, could not see the problem that was causing this delay.

"We seem to be temporarily out of road, sir." The driver informed the group behind him.

'That's weird. I know that this is how we always get to...' Kristy thought to herself, and was beginning to feel doubtful of her directional skills until she realized where they were. "It doesn't matter. We're almost there anyway. Let's get out and walk from here." Kristy said to the group with a smile on her face that she knew that they were heading in the right direction.

'No car? Now we're going to loose even more time.' Thomas thought to himself as he felt that all his hard work last night was slowly going down the drain. Another part of him realized that he was going to be making a lot of phone calls real soon.

"Thomas, hurry up." The birthday girl shouted out when she realized that her stand-in brother was still in the car. He chuckled, which the other two didn't know why, and then he got out of the car to join them. On the building close to them stood their watchers.

"Let's not have Kristy be the navigator when we go somewhere, Ash." Renamon stated since she had a feeling that the little one had no idea where she was going, and it was only through dumb luck that they were remotely close to their destination.

"Don't sell Kristy short. If it was me as the navigator I'm sure that we would have hit all of the dead ends along the way." Ash reasoned with the yellow furred one, and she did have to admit that did sound like something her partner would do.

"We better keep an eye on them." The vixen informed and with that said the two leaped off to their next roof. Renamon knew that she could easily blow away the obstructions, but for the two of them – this was a recon mission only. As for the actual big brother he was dealing with his own problem of the day.

"I'm gonna fail bad." The fighter muttered to himself as he stared blankly at his test paper since he could feel all the stuff he studied suddenly left him right then and there. Back at the party the actual party people were at their destination – a small brick building with their onlookers resting on the rooftop across the street from them.

"This is where you wanted to go?" The genius questioned as the stood before the simply building with a sliding entrance door.

"Yeah! The arcade!" Kristy shouted out with complete joy as she held her mother's hand while walking inside. "Come on, Thomas. Let's play." The young one said to her stand-in with a smile since she really wanted him to experience the joy this place gives her.

"I'll be right there." He said to them, and waited until the doors closed to do what he dreaded on doing. "Hello. This is Thomas H. Norstein, I'm terribly sorry, but I have to cancel my reservation. Please forgive me this stop wasn't on my schedule." He said on his cellphone with his hand covering his mouth since he did not want anyone hearing what he was saying. After hanging up the egg-head took a deep breath, and went into the arcade with the others.

"Looks like that is one thing the brother and sister have in common. " Ash stated as he stood on the roof and watched the whole thing.

"What is that?" His fluffy partner questioned: wanting to know what he was talking about.

"Both of them have a knack for being the strategy sinkers when it comes to a Thomas Norstein plan." He explained what he was talking about, and she had to admit that he did have a point. Inside the building were the party people standing before a crane game.

"You just pick out a stuffed animal, and I'll grab it for you, Kristy." Thomas informed her since this was still in the spirit of his plan, and it did seem a bit more fun.

"That one – the kitty-cat." The young girl said with happiness as she eyed the one that she wanted.

"You got it." He said back to her as he activated the machine, and picked up a cute pink kitty-cat. "Right?" He questioned to her, and was sort of expecting a confirmation on his catch, but instead...

"No. The other kitty." Kristy corrected him which confused the savior of mankind until he saw what she was now pointing to. A tiger themed one with a very angry face on it.

"Oh, that kitty." He said dejectedly before releasing the pink one before it went through the exit hole, and picked up the one that she wanted. The next stop was a versus fighting video game where the two players were facing one another instead of side by side.

"K.O." The computer voice shouted out as a white bunny went flying.

"I win!" The birthday girl shouted out with happiness as another victory went under her belt.

"I didn't know that you were this good at video games." The mother said in a shocked tone, but she was also quite proud over what she had seen. It was at that point that her opponent peeked over the corner of the machine before another round could begin.

"I keep loosing. I'm terrible." The genius said to himself in disbelief that a man of his intellect couldn't even win one round.

"Maybe it's a good thing Marcus couldn't make it. He would never let you live these seventeen looses down." Gaomon informed his partner while staying inside the digivice since he still didn't know how to react while being around that young girl.

"That is true, Gaomon, and I'm not sure weather Ash would or not." Norstein stated to his digital dog while believing that if this was Punch-Out or something similar to that style of game then he would have won at least a couple of them. As for Marcus, he was still in school, only this time staring out the window: lost in one simple thought.

'I wonder how Thomas is doing with Kristy?' The brawler thought since that was the only thing on his mind – not the test. Something then struck his forehead causing him to get back on track.

"Damon, eyes on your paper." The teacher, that threw the chalk, instructed to the daydreamer after seeing that it connected to his target.

"Yes, sir." The student answered back, and went back to the test that he was certain he was going to fail at. The watchers were seeing that the three were coming back out.

"Looks like they're done in there." Ash informed his partner as he saw their three targets with a stuffed kitty in hand. The fox, who was simply training on the rooftop, glanced over with the corner of her eye, and saw the animal.

"At least it's not a blue doggy." She muttered under her breath, and it was then and there that the human half of this decided to call her out on this side of her.

"You've been like this ever since Kristy caught sight of Gaomon." Ash started out with, and then brought up with something from the past, "As I recall though: when she snuck into our room and tied bows on your tail and ears out of cuteness. You found them annoying, and now there's a new canine focus – you seem threatened." She looked right at him, and had a feeling she knew what he was implying, but she wanted to make sure.

"What are you getting at, Ash?" The hidden yellow furred warrior questioned to him while not sounding offended by his comment.

"Could it be that a part of you liked the attention that the little sister gave you." He offered to her, and then added, "Is it possible that you may have a puppy side underneath all of that warrior pride?" She became flustered because a part of her did like the bows in her fur...just a bit. Her attitude went back to normal once she recalled why they were on a rooftop.

"I know you like to hear the sound of my voice, but don't forget – we are supposed to be making sure that nothing happens to the birthday girl." The pointy eared protagonist informed him before leaping away. The hat wearing hero did have to admit that he did like the sound of her voice, but she did have a point.

"Right." He said back to her, and followed her. Eventually they were forced to go to sidewalk level since the buildings in this upcoming sector seriously varied in size. Despite wearing a hat Ash knew that one of them may recognize him from a distance, so he pulled out a pair of sunglasses.

"Seriously?" She questioned to the hero as they continued to walk shoulder to shoulder.

"I've seen it in a comic, cartoon, and movie. This hero wore a simple pair of glasses, and no one was the wiser." He whispered back to her, and with that they simply followed them a few people behind. The three person party were having their own conversation.

"I'm hungry?" The smallest of the Damon clan informed the others in a somewhat whiny tone.

"Me too. It is about time for lunch." Sarah informed them of the time she saw on a store clock a ways back. Renamon heard this, and was about to question her partner, but his stomach beat her to it; much to his embarrassment.

'Yes. Time to get things back on schedule.' Thomas thought to himself in victory after hearing both ladies comments. "There's a great little French cafe I know just around..." The blonde haired youth was about to speak before being cut off by the birthday girl.

"I know a much better place to eat." Kristy said to her party much to Thomas' aggravation. Her actual big brother was suffering a similar type of aggravation: with a word problem.

'An older brother leaves home to go to school which is two kilometers away from his house. Ten minutes later his little sister chases after him using the same road. The older brother walks eighty meters per minute while the sister runs two hundred meters per minute. How many minutes will it take the sister to reach her brother.' Marcus thought to himself as he read the problem he was stumped on. 'Let's see: if I were her brother I would...' He thought to himself before muttering out loud, "Sit down and wait for my sister." His sis on the other hand had made it to her restaurant.

'Man, do I feel out of place.' Thomas thought to himself as he entered the restaurant in question and felt everyone staring at him – most likely due to his pure white suit. Except for a couple that came in behind them – they could care less. "This is your idea of Lunch?" The genius questioned out loud as he saw the chunk of something on a burner.

"I told you this place was great." The little one said to him with a smile since she really wanted him to experience this wonderful food of hers.

"How do you eat this stuff?" Norstein questioned since in all of his travels he has never encountered such a food related oddity.

"You just press it down like this, and scoop." The birthday girl instructed while doing just that, and shoved her piece in her mouth. "Delicious. That really hits the spot." She informed them as she felt the chunk that she had slid right into her stomach.

'Come on. It can't be that good.' Ash thought to himself before doing has he had heard, and shoved it into his mouth. 'I stand corrected.' The hero thought after tasting it, and swallowed it. The vixen did the same as he, and also enjoyed it.

"Kristy just loves her fried slop, but I can't stand it." The mother admitted to the group that surrounded her. Which the birthday girl took no offense to her mother's words since she was still focused on having her stand-in brother try her food.

"Don't knock it till you try it." Kristy said to Thomas as she anxiously awaited for him to try some.

"Okay." He responded back with a nervous tick in his voice. He took some, tried it, and then a big smile was plastered all over his face. "I like it!" He responded with his smile never leaving his face much to the birthday girl's delight.

"That was yummy-licious." The little one shouted out extremely happy. For that moment Thomas forgot all about his schedule as he was eating it, but once all of it was gone the blue savior decided it was time to go.

"Waiter, we'll take the check now, please." The man in white informed their food supplier. At another table two others were leaving as well only with their food supplier standing closer to them.

"Yes, sir. You can pay at the register when ever you are ready." Thomas' waiter informed the three of them while Ash's waiter said something differently.

"For you and your date – no charge." The waiter said with a kind smile much to both of their surprise of this being listed under the 'd' word. It was then Ash recognized the man serving them.

'It's the same elder as those other times. What's his story?' Ash thought to himself before getting down to business. "I am sorry sir, but I was raised to never accept gratuities." The hat wearing hero said to him which caused the elder to smile.

'So much like your father.' The giver of digivices thought to himself before getting back on task himself. "If that's what you want then pay up at the register when your ready to leave." A nod of understanding was his answer. Thomas had dug his credit cards out in that time, and handed his waiter one that has never let him down.

"Just put it on my card." Thomas informed with a sly smile since he wished to look cool in front of the Damon family. The waiter's smile went away and was replaced with a dead-serious face.

"Where do you think you are?" The waiter questioned the rich boy sitting down.

"Huh?" The planner questioned out loud since he didn't understand what the man was talking about.

"This isn't the Taj Mahal. We only take cash here." The silver haired man informed, and the strategist got what their waiter was talking about.

"Sorry. I'm all out of cash. I spent it all at the arcade." Thomas informed their waiter with an embarrassed expression on his face. The planner's pride had to take a blow as he had to be bailed out of this jam. "Thank you for paying for Lunch, Sarah." Thomas stated with his head hung in defeat.

"Oh, don't worry. It's the least I could do since you planned such a magnificent birthday for Kristy." Sarah said back, letting him know that she saw what he was doing with his pocket laptop, and she knew what was on it.

'Some plan. We haven't done one magnificent thing yet.' Thomas thought with his head still hung low. 'I must recover somehow. Get us back on schedule.' He added to his first thought as his resolve to make this the best day ever was slowly returning to him. Sarah on the other hand was thinking of something as well.

'Was that really Homer Yushima talking to Ash? Is he still protecting our world at his age?' Sarah thought since as they were leaving she could have sworn that she saw her old friend along with Ash in that restaurant. The mother's thoughts were cut short when she looked over and saw that Thomas had stopped moving and was standing upright.

"Well, Kristy if there's any other place you want to go. Now's the time to request it." Thomas informed and offered to the girl beside her since this was her special day.

"Hmm. I know, I want to see fireworks. Ones that go, BOOM, with green and orange lights." Kristy informed him causing the planner to think about it for a moment, and remember something he saw while looking at all of the other places.

"Where ever you plan on taking us Thomas let's go on ahead, but maybe we should ask our tag-alongs to come with us." Sarah offered to the others which confused the savior and the birthday girl. Coming over to them was a blonde haired girl and a familiar hat wearing human.

"Looks like your disguise wasn't so full proof after all." Renamon muttered to her partner as they got close to them. "My apologies, Sarah, but Ash and I thought it best to keep an eye on you since us being part of the Digimon Data Squad – trouble seems to follow us. Thought it best to keep you all safe." The one with blonde hair informed her with a bow of forgiveness.

"Think nothing of it, Rena. Come on, let's go." The mother said and headed out with the others right behind her. Eventually they all stood before something they didn't know Thomas knew about.

"An amusement park?" Ash questioned the back of his head in confusion didn't really feel like something Thomas would do.

"Cool." Kristy said out loud as she gawked at all of the rides that rested on the other side of the wall. Norstein did have this as an option – a fall back in case something were to happen since the fireworks did sound like a good closer to any day.

"They have a spectacular firework show here every single night." The planner informed them that this was the perfect place to fulfill the birthday girl's desire.

"Really?" The youngest of them questioned as she was desperately trying to hold in her glee about this part of her day.

"Why don't we go see some attractions and go on some rides before they start?" The thinker suggested to them since this seemed like a good place to kill time before that part of the festivities began.

"Yeah!" The four others shouted out and headed on in. Once inside they rode the roller coaster, spent time at the tea cup ride, a haunted house (spooked Thomas a little), went on a merry go round (with Ash and Renamon sitting in a chariot), had some ice cream (with the birthday girl having quite a bit on such a small cone), and rode the Ferris Wheel to get a better view of the fireworks.

"It feels good to see the real me." Renamon thought once they were inside their sphere and she powered down her disguise. The girls sat on one side {Renamon, Sarah, and Kristy} while Thomas and Ash sat on the other side.

"Just to make sure you aren't spotted by any peepers above us – here." The raven haired youth said as he offered his hat to her. She accepted it, and gently placed it on her head which the other two ladies liked it on her as mach as on Ash's head.

"Thank you." She responded to him, and could not shake the 'd' word back there since this felt kind of right, and on the lines of that particular word. The vixen's worry was shelved once she heard the youngest of them speak.

"Wow. Pretty. You can see the whole town. I think I can see our house from here. Look mom, is that it?" Kristy stated in an overjoyed tone while looking out her window.

"Let's see." Sarah said to her beloved daughter and looked over her shoulder. At that moment Ketchum caught that same vibe as back at Supper from Thomas. Only this time could see a very painful gleam in his eye.

'Something seriously wrong must have happened.' Ketchum thought to himself, but decided not to pry. If he wanted them to know of it – he would tell the others.

"Thomas?" Kristy questioned which caused the man in question to get out of his thoughts, and look around and saw that the others were giving him worried looks. "Are you okay? You look so sad. Are you not having fun?" The birthday girl questioned to her stand-in brother who genuinely smiled back at her since he appreciated that she cared about him even though they have barely interacted at all.

"On the contrary. I can't remember the last time I have had this much fun." The planner admitted to the others. At that moment several flashes of light were seen at the ground below causing the five to look at it.

"Fireworks?" Ash questioned before looking at his watch, and added, "They started early." Thomas and Renamon scanned the explosions and saw a rather large figure near the blasts.

"Not exactly, Ash." The fluffy one commented to her partner.

"It's a Digimon." Thomas stated the rest for her causing him to get on the defensive since this area is crawling with civilians. Ash pulled out his Digidex, and scanned their enemy.

"Citramon, a Champion Level Digimon – special attack: Fruit Punch Nova. It is believed to be a sub category of BomberNanimon." The machine informed them which sort of helped out of what that beast is capable of.

"I'm gonna squeeze ya. Like an orange." Citramon shouted out to the civilians at his feet who were all screaming in fear. Eventually the Ferris wheel came to a stop, and Renamon turned her disguise back on with Thomas leaping out of their car.

"Thomas, be careful." Sarah warned the youngster. This was one thing she did not like – family and loved ones putting themselves in harms way.

"You two need to get out of here. Ash, Renamon I'm counting on you two to get these two out of the amusement park along with everyone else." The veteran between the two instructed to the two still in the car, and even though the other savior wanted to help he knew that this was Thomas' fight.

"No. Thomas." Kristy said with fear and worry evident on her face.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. This is what I do." The blonde haired one informed her and then ran off. This left the four alone, but none of them had time to waste just staying in there.

"You heard the man. You three head on out. I have an idea to hopefully get everyone out." Ash informed them, and the leaped out, and headed in the other direction – to the source of the PA system for the whole park.

"We better get to it." The pointy eared girl said to the others, completely forgetting that she was still wearing Ash's hat. Reluctantly the two civilians nod in agreement, and got out, and tried to get as many people along the way.

"There it is." Ash shouted in joy once he saw the room, and opened it, thankfully unlocked, before getting to the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen of the amusement park, our newest animatronic mascot seems to be going haywire. Please locate the closest exit, and leave carefully. We will give you a full refund for your troubles, and drive safely." Ash said in the microphone before leaving, and knew that Thomas could handle the rest.

'All my planning for nothing. I'll make that Digimon pay for ruining Kristy's birthday. Couldn't he have attacked tomorrow instead.' Thomas thought as he raced to a clearing closest to his target. The fruit themed opponent saw him instantly.

"Prepare to get juiced." The opponent of the day shouted out to the new challenger.

"This is going to be tough." The planner said to himself since there were a lot of structures that could be lost in the fight.

"Ready when you are, sir." Gaomon informed while still in his digivice even though he could sense this enemy appear on his own. The human scanned the immediate area, but thanks to Ash's announcement there was no one around, so he went to work.

"Gaomon, realize." The blonde one shouted out as he held out his device, and in a flash of light his long time friend and fighting companion appeared.

"Sir, yes, sir." The digital dog shouted out once he was completely in the open. "He's tart. Careful." The Digital Monster informed since he knew that this creature had a habit of splash-like moves.

"We'll stay clear of the juice." Thomas assured him before pulling his com link out of his pocket, and decided to let the others know. "This is Norstein. There is a Digimon on a rampage in unit U-308. The target is Citramon. Requesting area be shut down immediately." He informed into his listening device, and waited for a response.

"Confirmed. Area U-308 will be blockaded." The long haired desk jockey informed the field agent.

"Thomas, don't do anything until the others get there." Sampson instructed to the loyal one of DATS. He knew that with more Digimon on their side the less of a chance that amusement park will look more like a war zone.

"I'm sorry, sir, but this fight has become a personal matter to me." The field agent informed as he tried to keep his voice as calm as possible. His answer did not go over very well with his commanding officer.

"Keep your personal feeling out of this." Sampson shouted to him before adding, "Stand by. Back up is on the way." He was giving his soldier another shot of not disobeying him, and hoped that he would not.

"It's not my intention to disobey orders, sir, but I'm taking this Digimon down alone." Thomas said back to him in a stern tone since he wanted to make it clear that he meant every word.

"No. I'm telling you for the last time. Do not proceed until back-up arri-." Their commander shouted to him, but was cut off before he could finish. The strategist hung up on his end, and put his com link away before returning to his target – Citramon.

"Perhaps Ash will serve better since he is in the same area." Kudamon offered to his old friend as the saw the signal from his digivice in the immediate area.

"Ash, respond." Sampson stated after tapping into Ash's com-link.

"Sir, Ash here." The hat wearing hero responded while calmly walking to the others.

"You must go back and assist Thomas in stopping that Digimon." Sampson ordered to the raven haired hero.

"Far be it for me to disobey you, but I think that Thomas wants to deal with this fight on his own." He responded and had a feeling that he only upset him, so the young hero added, "Besides he does have the pride of a warrior, and if I were to interfere that would only wound it; not help it." With nothing else to be said he hung up and rejoined the others. The fellow world savior only hoped that the genius could really handle this.

"Well, ready?" The human half of the duo questioned once he was ready for battle.

"Sir, yes, sir." Gaomon responded in a stern tone of his own. To let the human know that he was with him no matter what he chose to do.

'This is for Kristy and Sarah.' The birthday planner thought before saying out loud, "Pursue and secure." The soldier then charged up his hand and channeled it into his digivice. "DNA Charge!" He shouted out and then let his partner take over.

"Gaomon digivolve to..." The small boxing themed Rookie shouted out while feeling the energy flow through him and soon added, "Gaogamon." Once the energy reached it's peak and he transformed into his four legged form.

"Bring him down, Gaogamon. Go." Thomas commanded and then pointed at his target. The four legged Champion charged straight ahead – ready to end this fight fast and clean.

"I'll show you." The enemy shouted out and started the throw his attacks at the canine which all of them missed. Once he got in range Gaogamon pounced on their target with his claws ready.

"That's the way. Now, squeeze the juice right out of him." Thomas shouted out with a happy smile since this fight was going swimmingly.

"Fine. Just be warned if you squeeze me. Everyone goes for a swim." Citramon informed as he showed off his entire ammunition before the four legged canine. This drew concern from Gaogamon because he didn't know how to get past this defense.

"Oh no." The genius shouted out before thinking, 'There's enough juice in there to level the entire park.' It was then that his mind reminded him of something that the Birthday girl wanted to see.

"Hmm, I know. I wanna see fireworks. Ones that go BOOM with green and orange lights." Past Kristy said in his mind, and the blonde haired man took a good look at the enemy's color scheme.

"Gaogamon, grab him. Toss him into the sky...high!" Thomas shouted out while pointing at the starry sky above them all.

"Sir, yes, sir." The canine shouted back before using the streamers on his body on the now standing upright's enemy's ankles, and was able to heave the fruit themed enemy right up into the air.

"Finish him!" Norstein shouted out at his partner while the enemy was still air-born.

"Spiral Blow!" The digital partner shouted out as he unleashed his wind element attack, and took out the variant of BomberNanimon.

"I'll be back, and even juicier than before!" The shades wearing citrus creature shouted out before finally blowing up, and leaving fireworks in his place. With that everyone: the citizens, Gaogamon, Thomas, and others were simply enjoying the show.

"Situation contained. Thomas turned him back into a digi-egg." Megumi informed the others after seeing that the enemy's life sign was no longer transmitting.

"He disobeyed your orders. What will you do?" Kudamon stated and questioned to his human partner while resting on his neck.

"I'm going to sit here and enjoy the fireworks." Sampson responded without even looking at his partner, and kept his shaded eyes on the display screens showing them a spectacular fireworks show. Kudamon had a feeling that he wasn't going to do anything to Ash either, so the small Digimon decided to be like the others and enjoy the show.

"Unit 5 reporting: no sign of that giant orange, but the fireworks are something special tonight." An officer in the parking lot responded to dispatch while staring at the display before him. Ash was also in awe at the light show above, but he also knew that there was a digi-egg in plain sight, and that could not stand.

"Go." The hero muttered under his breath, and the young girl beside him nodded, and jogged away. Once out of view the fox deactivated her image, disappeared from there, and reappeared in the park. After some searching she spotted her target, and headed over to it, but also saw Thomas.

"Go to the others. I'll take this back to base." She instructed to the smart one. He knew that she had a point, and had a feeling that the little one was going to be very upset that things did not go as planned. The pointy eared canine took the egg, and raced off back to base. 'I better hurry if I want to make it back in time for cake.' Renamon thought while leaping to their place of business. While she was doing that and the fireworks were dying out Marcus was still at his desk in a pitch black school.

"Finally, I'm finished." The bruiser said out loud as he sat at his desk completely stunned that he was actually done with that re-take test. Back at the amusement park Thomas made it out, with Gaomon back in the digivice, and seeming down in the dumps.

"Thomas, here!" The birthday girl shouted out as she, mom, and Ash waited right by the tape.

"Sorry. I tried, but I guess I can't make all of Kristy's birthday wishes come true." The young Norstein said to the three of them. This only confused the mother and Ash since it felt as though the little one was really enjoying herself.

"Oh, Thomas, what are you talking about, silly? Your birthday plans today were magnificent." Sarah commented to him with a warm smile on her face with a simple smile and nod in agreement from Ash. This seemed to have surprised the planner greatly since nothing went at all as he had planned.

"Thomas! Thomas!" The youngest of the Damons shouted up at the planner to get him out of his daze. He heard her, and knelt to her so she would have an easier time talking to him.

"Yes, Kristy." Thomas stated to her allowing her to continue what she wanted to talk about.

"Thank you! Those fireworks were the best ever, and so are you." She explained while expressing great joy to her stand in brother while giving him her birthday kiss. This actually made the older man blush a bit as he continued to kneel there.

"I'm getting kind of hungry again." Kristy said to her mother since all of this excitement really emptied her reserves.

"Well, I could eat." The older woman said to the group admitting, by her tone, that she was really starving. This caught the planner's attention causing him to stand up right.

"Really?" He questioned while going from kneeling to standing. "There's a French restaurant I know that-." He started to speak, but the mother to the brawler of the group put her finger to his mouth. She was touched that he still wanted to follow his plan, but she knew of a better idea.

"I have a better idea. How would you like me to cook you a home cooked meal?" The mother said and questioned to her stand in son with that same warm smile.

"Sure. Sounds great." He answered back, and with that the four headed back home. Once they got inside the driver along with Marcus, Agumon, Yoshino, Lalamon, and Renamon were already inside – waiting for them. With a little bit of time they all sat down for Supper with confetti shooters in hand which they did not use until after the birthday girl blew out all of her candles.

"Happy Birthday, and many happy returns." They all said to the girl in question who sat back in her chair.

"Here's a little something that Lalamon and I picked out together." The human of the two stated while handing the young one a yellow and red gift.

"I would have helped wrap it to, but I don't have hands." The seed creature explained to the birthday girl even though she had a feeling that much was obvious by all.

"Thanks a lot." Kristy said back to the two girls sitting across from her.

"Kristy." Marcus stated as his sister just took hold of her gift from Yoshi, but turned her head to her brother.

"I'm really sorry I was late. I hope I didn't ruin your Birthday after promising to spend time with you today." The fighter explained to her and genuinely felt bad for doing such a thing to her. As he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment the teen saw from the corner of his eye that his scaly chum was helping himself to the eggs.

"You didn't ruin it. We had lots of fun. Right? Didn't we, Thomas?" The birthday girl informed him and questioned to her stand in brother.

"Yeah." He said to her with a small blush growing back on his face. Sarah could only smile and chuckle a little at how the egg-head was acting with that compliment.

"Really? That's good to hear." Marcus said to her, and was happy that everything worked out alright. It was then he decided to deal with a slight problem. "HEY! YOU HOG! You ate my eggs!" Marcus shouted at Agumon while holding him back from the final piece.

"Oh, sorry, were those your eggs?" Agumon questioned even though he already knew the answer. Before either of them could claim the final piece a pair of chopsticks took it away. The pair of utensils belonged to Thomas as he slowly placed it into his mouth.

"Ah, so good." The smart one said to all of them, but Ash could tell that a little of that statement was to rub it into Marcus' face of how good the egg was.

"No fair, Thomas. You took advantage of my temporary confusion." The son of the mother shouted out to his fellow worker as he tried to point out the move against him was unfair.

"Your confusion is never temporary, Marcus." The thief said back to the fists first fellow.

"Okay, that does it!" He shouted out, and all were expecting him to start a fight, and then he added, "No dessert for you." This back and forth was actually upsetting the girl of the day.

"Marcus, stop, your embarrassing me." Kristy informed them even though she was answered back with a group laugh. Ash was just happy that everyone was enjoying themselves this night. It wasn't until that moment that Ash realized something strange in the room.

"You still have my hat, Renamon." He said to her while seeing the fox creature with his hat on her head. She adjusted it a bit, and looked right at him with a soft smile on her face.

"Yes, I suppose I am." The yellow furred one said back and then took it off of her head, and carefully put it back on the proper head.

"You did look good with it, though." He whispered to that only she could hear him, and he saw a blush before watching the agile one put her game face back on.


End file.
